Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Bakers hole area B, Is a listed Palaeolithic ancient monument and Quaternary Site of special Scientific Interest. It consists of an area of ground measuring 30m x 35m c. 100m to the west of Ebbsfleet International Station. The area includes sediments dating to the Palaloithic and previous archaeological invetigations across the site have produced many finds including flint tools and toll working debirs, with a Levallois flake present, as well as animal remains. (location accurate to the nearest 5m based on available information)

Monument Types

• OCCUPATION SITE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)

Associated Finds

• CORE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)
• DEBITAGE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)
• LEVALLOIS FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• MAMMAL REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)
• MOLLUSCA REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 125000 BC)

Full description

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The site was investigated by JPT Burchell in the early 1930s (1, 2, 3, 4). He carried out small-scale excavations at numerous unrecorded locations in and around the surviving block of sediments that is now known as "Site B" and protected as a Scheduled Monument and Site of Special Scientific Interest. He identified a suite of deposits banked up against Chalk bedrock, labelled by him as the "Ebbsfleet Channel" complex. Handaxes, Levallois cores and Levallois flakes were recovered from the gravel at the base of the sequence and these are presumed to be reworked from older deposits. Higher up the sequence (in a sequence of gravelly beds above his so-called "Lowermost Loam") he found horizons with undisturbed Levalloisian knapping scatters and the remains of a variety of larger mammals. Fish, small mammal and molluscan remains were also recovered in low quantities from various horizons. At the top of the sequence he identified a "Temperate Bed" with abundant mollusc remains reflecting peak interglacial conditions, as well as containing occasional artefacts and larger mammalian remains. The site has been periodically re-investigated subsequently, particularly by the British Museum 1965-1971 (5), by F Wenban-Smith 1993-1994 (6, 12, 13, 14), and by F Wenban-Smith again 2012-2014 (7, 12). This work has shown that the Ebbsfleet Channel sequence relates to the period MIS 8-7, between c. 250,000 and 200,000 BP, and the work by Wenban-Smith identified that the Temperate Bed was also rich in small vertebrate remains, including fish, amphibians, water shrew and northern vole Microtus oeconomus. Various sources provide overviews of the site (6, 9, 10, 11), although these will soon be superseded by the results of the more recent work by Wenban-Smith (12). Artefacts from the site are mostly held by the British Museum, although there is also a large collection at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology, as well as smaller collections at numerous other museums (8, 13). The artefact counts given here are based on the systematic investigation of museum collections by Wenban-Smith (13, 14). The site is included in the SRPP (15) and was visited/assessed for the MES (16). 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. (17-19)

<1> Burchell JPT, 1933, The Northfleet 50 ft. submergence later than the Coombe Rock of post-Early Mousterian times. (Article in serial). SKE32202.

<2> Burchell JPT,, 1935, Evidence of a further glacial episode within the valley of the Lower Thames (Article in serial). SKE32264.

<3> Burchell JPT, 1935, Some Pleistocene deposits at Kirmington and Crayford. (Article in serial). SKE32235.

<4> Burchell, J.P.T., 1936, Hand-axes later than the Main Coombe Rock of the Lower Thames Valley. (Article in serial). SKE32194.

<5> Kerney MP & Sieveking G de G, 1977, Northfleet. (Article in monograph). SKE32246.

<6> Wenban-Smith F. F., 1995, The Ebbsfleet Valley, Northfleet (Baker's Hole) (Article in monograph). SKE17727.

<7> Wenban-Smith FF, 2016, Baker's Hole SM and SSSI, Area B: Report on Assessment of the Temperate Bed under HAR Programme. (Unpublished document). SKE32267.

<8> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p150 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<9> Wymer, JJ, 1968, Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain as represented by the Thames Valley., pp 356-359 (Monograph). SKE29697.

<10> Wymer, JJ, 1968, Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain as represented by the Thames Valley., pp 83-86 (Monograph). SKE29697.

<11> Bridgland DR, 1994, Quaternary of the Thames., 262 (Monograph). SKE32233.

<12> Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,, 2017, MIS 7, the "Ebbsfleet Interglacial": sub-stage structure and recognition in the UK record. (Article in serial). SKE32272.

<13> Wenban-Smith FF,, 1996, The Palaeolithic Archaeology of Baker's Hole: a Case Study for Focus in Lithic Analysis. (Unpublished document). SKE32294.

<14> Wenban-Smith FF, et al.,, 2012, Prehistoric Ebbsfleet: Excavations and Research in Advance of High Speed 1 and STDR 4., ch 18 (Monograph). SKE32262.

<15> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text], NWK 5.4 (Monograph). SWX6569.

<16> Essex County Council & Kent County Council, 2003, Archaeological Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites around the Thames Estuary, KT 585 (Unpublished document). SKE12012.

<17> 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.

<18> University of Southampton, 2012, Baker's Hole SSSI, SAM Field Survey, Report (Unpublished document). SKE53124.

<19> F.F. WENBAN-SMITH, 2014, Baker's Hole field survey, EV14, Fieldwork summary report (Unpublished document). SKE53122.

Sources and further reading