Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Rich vertebrate and other palaeo-environmental remains were found during fieldwork for HS1 in advance of construction of the new ZR4 pylon within the Baker's Hole Site A Scheduled Monument in 1998 and 2000. Larger mammalian fossils include mammoth/elephant, horse, red deer and bovid. Small vertebrate fossils include mink, fish, amphibians, and numerous taxa of shrews, mice and voles. Other palaeo-environmental remains comprise molluscs and ostracods.

Location accurate to 2m based on available information

Monument Types

• PALAEOCHANNEL (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Associated Finds

• AMPHIBIAN REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FISH REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• SMALL MAMMAL REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• VERTEBRATE REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Full description

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As part of the HS1 construction programme the new pylon ZR4 was erected within the Baker's Hole Scheduled Monument of Site A. The site was evaluated in January 1998 (1), and then excavated April-June 2000 (2). The most important remains were found in the southwest footing. Half of this was evaluated as TP 3423 and then the other half was excavated as TP 3776. The sequence contained fluvial sediments dating to late MIS 7, c. 200,000 BP, generally coarsening upwards from an active river gravel at the base, and then becoming more sandy/silty and clayey higher up in the sequence. Very abundant small vertebrate remains were recovered, with over 23,000 identified specimens. Larger vertebrate remains were relatively rare with specimens of mammoth/elephant, horse, bovid and red deer recovered. Molluscs and ostracods were also found. A handaxe was found on the ground surface beside the excavation. Its provenance was uncertain. It could have come from borehole upcasts resulting from prior geotechnical investigations, or it could have been brought to the site accidentally when it was previously used for allotments. The palaeo-environmental remains and amino acid dating indicate deposition in a peak interglacial episode late in MIS 7. Importantly, it can be shown on biostratigraphic grounds (the absence of bank vole) and by amino acid dating that this is a separate warm episode from the MIS 7 interglacial deposits at nearby Site A, c. 100m to the SSW. It is also distinct on slightly less robust biostratigraphic grounds (a different clustering of northern vole tooth measurements) from the MIS 7 interglacial deposits of the Temperate Bed at Site B. The site is therefore particularly important by complementing these two localities to provide a record within the Ebbsfleet Valley of all three of the warm interglacial episodes known to have occurred within MIS 7 between 240,000 and 190,000 BP. Publication of the results is planned for 2017 or 2018 (3, 4).

Location accurate to 2m based on available information

<1> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1997, NGC Tower ZR4, Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet, Kent, ARC ZR4 98: Archaeological Evaluation. (Unpublished document). SKE32252.

<2> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 2000, New NGC ZR4 Pylon Location, Ebbsfleet, Kent: Detailed Excavation Assessment Report Final. (Unpublished document). SKE32253.

<3> Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,, 2012, Prehistoric Ebbsfleet: Excavations and Research in Advance of High Speed 1 and STDR 4., ch 5 (Monograph). SKE32262.

<4> Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,, 2017, MIS 7, the "Ebbsfleet Interglacial": sub-stage structure and recognition in the UK record. (Article in serial). SKE32272.

Sources and further reading