Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Later Prehistoric skeleton "Galley Hill Man", interred in Pleistocene gravels at Galley Hill, Swanscombe, found 1888. Location accurate to 100m based on available information

Monument Types

• HUMAN REMAINS (HUMAN REMAINS, Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Finds

• HUMAN REMAINS (Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC? to 701 BC?)

Full description

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The 'Galley Hill Man' was found in 1888 in the gravel pit at Galley Hill, Swanscombe, 8 ft. below the surface (1). Oakley and Montagu (2) examine fully the argument on the age of the skeleton and they conclude that on morphological grounds "the skull and mandible show no features which cannot be matched in the contemporary population of Britain" while "so far as fossilization is concerned, the evidence is largely negative, the bones might be any Quaternary age, but in general their appearance is post-Palaeolithic rather than Palaeolithic".

A fluorine test indicated that while an uppermost Pleistocene date for the burial of Galley Hill man is not entirely ruled out, a Holocene date is more likely. Oakley later (3) indicated a likely Neolithic or Bronze age date for the skull based on C14 dating. The find-spot falls in a disused chalk pit.

The site was visited for the ME survey (4). Quarry faces clearly identifiable, but high above ground level and heavily overgrown in places, especially in SE corner where Galley Hill skull found. Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath deposits preserved along S side of quarry, under London Road and Swanscombe Business Centre. Probably some within quarry area behind scrub/under rubbish in SE corner pit, just to W of Swanscombe Business Centre. Two areas of thicker Pleistocene deposits over Chalk bedrock visible in N-facing face (under London Rd), one with lower base (W end), one with higher base (E end). (4)

Location accurate to 100m based on available information

<1> Newton ET, 1895, On a Human Skull and Limb Bones found in the Palaeolithic Terrace–gravel at Galley Hill, Kent. (Article in serial). SKE32249.

<2> Oakley KP, Montagu MFA, 1949, A reconsideration of the Galley Hill Skeleton. (Article in serial). SKE32188.

<3> Oakley KP, 1980, Relative dating of the fossil Hominids of Europe. (Article in serial). SKE32293.

<4> Essex County Council & Kent County Council, 2003, Archaeological Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites around the Thames Estuary, KT552 (Unpublished document). SKE12012.

Sources and further reading