Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Palaeolithic handaxe, mammalian fossils and molluscs from terrace sands/gravels at Dartford Brent, found late 19th Century

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 150001 BC? (at some time))

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 150001 BC?)
• MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)

Full description

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A range of palaeoenvironmental remains including elephant, rhinoceros, horse, ox, deer, and various molluscan species were reported by Spurrell in the late 19th Century, from chalk-rich terrace gravels at Dartford Brent, west of the city asylum (1). A handaxe from Dartford Brent in Dartford Museum was recorded by Roe (2). The site was included in the SRPP (3, 4). There were numerous small gravel pits in this area in the late 19th Century, and the location given reflects one pit where these finds might have been made.

Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project: maps for Report No. 2, Regions 4 & 1, The South West and South of the Thames [Vol II - maps], NWK 4.05 (Unpublished document). SKE12023.

<1> Newton ET, 1895, On a Human Skull and Limb Bones found in the Palaeolithic Terrace–gravel at Galley Hill, Kent., p521 (Article in serial). SKE32249.

<2> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p148 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<3> Essex County Council & Kent County Council, 2003, Archaeological Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites around the Thames Estuary, KTG #855, #874 (Unpublished document). SKE12012.

Sources and further reading