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Monument details
| HER Number: | TQ 67 SW 295 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Bronze Age ring ditches, cremations and linear features Ebbsfleet Valley |
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Summary
Two ring ditches were also identified in the lower slopes of the Ebbsfleet valley in the vicinity of the northfleet villa complex. These lay adjacent to an early BA pit group both features were heavily truncated by later activity.
Location accurate to 2m based on available information
| Grid Reference: | TQ 6168 7409 |
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| Map Sheet: | TQ67SW |
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| Parish: | SWANSCOMBE AND GREENHITHE, DARTFORD, KENT |
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Monument Types
- GULLY (Bronze Age - 2350 BC? (at some time) to 701 BC? (at some time))
- RING DITCH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- BURIAL (Middle Bronze Age - 1400 BC (at some time) to 1100 BC (at some time)) + Sci.Date
Associated Finds
| Protected Status: | Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England: Site of a Roman villa revealed by excavations. A bath building with moasics was also excavated. Some medieval features and possible prehistoric pits also located within this area. |
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Full description
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A single ring gully ditch and isolated cremation burial Found in the area know by the excavators as Northfleet Villa Eastern Extension (ARCEBB01). Thought to be of prehistoric date and may relate to other sites in the immediate area (TQ 67 SW 284 & 294).(1).
Ring ditch 15059 measured c 5m in diameter. A spread of cremated bone, located almost within the centre of the feature, was radiocarbon dated to the Middle Bronze Age at 3113±30 BP. Analysis
revealed the bone to be of an adult (>35 years) and probably female with one rib fragment showing signs of osteophytes. (2) The second ring ditch was largely outside of the excavated area but it is likely of a similar size. A number of shallow linear features in the vicinity of the ring ditches may be associated with theis phase of activity and contained more cremated human remains, possibly pyre debris with a C14 date of 1390-1130 cal BC. A total of 110 sherds of pottery were recovered from these contexts (3)
Location accurate to 2m based on available information
<1> Oxford Archaeology, 2003, Ebbsfleet Valley Detailed Mitigation Works, Northfleet, Kent: Interim Statement (Unpublished document). SKE12256.
<2> Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,, 2012, Prehistoric Ebbsfleet: Excavations and Research in Advance of High Speed 1 and STDR 4. (Monograph). SKE32262.
<3> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2020, Prehistoric Ebbslfeet (Monograph). SKE54979.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | <1> | Unpublished document: Oxford Archaeology. 2003. Ebbsfleet Valley Detailed Mitigation Works, Northfleet, Kent: Interim Statement. |
| <2> | Monograph: Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,. 2012. Prehistoric Ebbsfleet: Excavations and Research in Advance of High Speed 1 and STDR 4.. |
| <3> | Monograph: Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture. 2020. Prehistoric Ebbslfeet. |
