Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Wansunt Pit, new eastern access road, 4 Palaeolithic flakes from Dartford Heath Gravel, found by gravel sieving in advance of construction of the access road in 2000.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)

Associated Finds

• FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)

Full description

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Numerous mint condition handaxes and flakes recovered from the "Wansunt Loam" in the eastern extension of the Wansunt Pit, Dartford pit in the early 20th century (1, 2, 3 - see HER TQ 57 SW 125). The Wansunt Loam was found to the west of the access cutting, and overlies broadly east-west trending Thames terrace deposits contiguous with the major Dartford Heath aggradation. However, it is uncertain how these relate to the well-defined Boyn Hill/100-ft terrace deposits at Swanscombe further east. It is additionally uncertain whether the Wansunt Loam fills an east-west trending Thames channel incised into the underlying terrace deposits, or whether it fills a north-south trending tributary gully or depression. It is furthermore uncertain whether the Wansunt Loam deposits are colluvial or waterlain (4, 5). The site was investigated in 2000 (4, 6) prior to construction of housing in the old quarry. Four technologically undiagnostic waste flakes were recovered from sieving of a large volume of Dartford Heath Gravel affected by the cutting. Three of these were small (2-3cm) and slightly abraded, and one of them was slightly larger (4-5cm) and more abraded. The site is included in the Southern Rivers Project (7, 8), and was assessed and visited in 2003 as part of the Thames Gateway Mineral Extraction Sites survey, site KT 708 (9).

<1> Chandler RH & Leach AL,, 1911, Excursion to Dartford Heath. (Article in serial). SKE32285.

<2> Chandler RH, Leach AL,, 1912, On the Dartford Heath Gravel and on a Palaeolithic implement factory. (Article in serial). SKE32226.

<3> Wymer, JJ, 1968, Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain as represented by the Thames Valley., pp326-327 (Monograph). SKE29697.

<4> Wenban-Smith FF, White MJ, Allen P, Bridgland DR, Bates MR,, 2003, Refitting Palaeolithic artefacts from Wansunt Pit. (Article in serial). SKE32270.

<5> Bridgland DR, 1994, Quaternary of the Thames., pp185-193 (Monograph). SKE32233.

<6> Oxford Archaeology, 2002, Wansunt Pit, Crayford: Post-excavation Assessment. (Unpublished document). SKE32286.

<7> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text], NWK 3.11 (Monograph). SWX6569.

<8> 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 3.11 (Unpublished document). SKE12023.

<9> Essex County Council & Kent County Council, 2003, Archaeological Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites around the Thames Estuary, KTG #708 (Unpublished document). SKE12012.

Sources and further reading