Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Area F contains a substantial area of natural sediments within the SSSI and under the western side of the Ebbsfleet International Station car park. There is an exposure of natural sediments along the west side of Area F, the southern end of which is through a sensitive sequence of channel-fill sediments from the same so-called Ebbsfleet Channel as is present in Area B. (location accurate to the nearest 5m based on available information)

Monument Types

• WATERCOURSE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)

Full description

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At Area F, a substantial area of natural sediments within the SSSI is preserved under the western side of the Ebbsfleet International station car park, approximately 25m to the north of Area B. The top part of a face of natural deposits is exposed in a geological section, c. 80 m long along the west side of Area F, to c. 1-2 metres high. At the southern end of this exposure, there is a sequence of channel-fill sediments and the west bank of a channel that represents a continuation of the same channel as present in Area B, with the west bank of the channel clearly defined at both locations. The deposits are known to be richly fossiliferous in places. Investigation of these deposits in the 1930s and 1950s showed them to be rich in mammalian vertebrate fossils, and they also contain flint artefacts. The sequence here has also never been properly recorded to its base.

The surviving deposits at the site have been subject to little active management or investigation since the work of Wenban-Smith, and the archaeological investigations in 1998 and 2000 in the northern part of the site associated with construction of the new National Grid pylon ZR4 in Area A. Rare outcrops of important deposits have been exposed directly to the elements for many decades, since their original investigation between the 1930s and 1970s. There has also been substantial landfill and landscape remodelling since c. 2000, associated with the CTRL and Ebbsfleet International Station construction works.

Clearance of vegetation and recording of the exposed sediments was undertaken between 2012 and 2015. An assessment of the survival and risk of the sediments present at this site and recommendations for their preservation were also made. During this work two sections were cleared within area F, section one (located at the southern tip of the standing south-west-facing section) revealed modern made ground. Previous work indicates that the most important natural surviving sediments at this location extend down to 7m OD. In section 2 which was located 20m to the north-west of section 1, along the standing section, despite the apparent disturbance, there may be natural Pleistocene deposits here. (1-3)

<1> Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeology, 2015, Baker's Hole SM and SSSI, strategic condition field survey, final report, current condition and future management recommendations, draft for discussion (Unpublished document). SKE53442.

<2> University of Southampton, 2012, Baker's Hole SSSI, SAM Field Survey, Report (Unpublished document). SKE53124.

<3> F.F. WENBAN-SMITH, 2014, Baker's Hole field survey, EV14, Fieldwork summary report (Unpublished document). SKE53122.

Sources and further reading