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Monument details

HER Number:	TQ 56 NE 107
Type of record:	Monument
Name:	Environmental evidence recovered at Horton Kirby Paper Mill

Summary

Grid Reference:	TQ 56289 69547
Map Sheet:	TQ56NE
Parish:	HORTON KIRBY AND SOUTH DARENTH, SEVENOAKS, KENT

Monument Types

FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)

Associated Finds

WATERLOGGED SAMPLE (Unknown date)
POLLEN (Prehistoric - 500000 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

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A trial trench and borehole were excavated in 2007 to recover environmental evidence. The evaluation concluded that the site changed from a river environment to a land environment in the late mesolithic period. The landscape was a mixture of riverine and light woodland and contained unusually early mesolithic cereal evidence. Radiocarbon dating dated this sediment as 5650 - 5480 BC which supports evidence from a small number of UK sites for cereal cultivation during the mesolithic.

From the report:
"The overarching aim of the environmental archaeological assessment was to evaluate the potential of the sedimentary sequence for reconstructing the environmental history of the site and its environs. In particular the assessment focused on evaluating the potential for quantifying the impact of human activities on the environment and the response of humans to natural environmental change. The results indicate that sedimentation commenced sometime before 5650 - 5480 cal BC (7600 to 7430 cal BP), during the late Mesolithic cultural period, and continued after 650 - 780 cal AD (1300 to 1170 cal BP), although natural sedimentation was evidently truncated by modern ground disturbance. The transition from a fluvial environment to semi-terrestrial conditions during the Late Mesolithic was probably a response to local environmental conditions, possibly the lateral migration of the main stream-channel and the formation of a back swamp area. The renewal of alluvial sedimentation indicates continued intermittent flooding of the site, and the presence of a small channel in Trench 1 suggests that more than one active channel was probably present at the site at the same time. In addition, the high organic matter content of the alluvium suggests that the floodplain surface was probably vegetated, although some of this material was probably transported to the point of deposition as part of the suspended sediment load of the stream.

The insect and pollen date support this interpretation, with evidence for standing water and a rich wetland plant community comprising alder woodland, forming possible fen carr, with an understorey of sedges and grasses. On nearby dryland, oak, elm and lime woodland dominsted the vegetation cover, although the presence of shrubland suggests that areas of less dense woodland existed. The presence of cereal pollen in column samples <1AB> and <3AB> provides unequivocal evidence for human activity, and suggests cultivation within a forested environment. The radiocarbon date for the base of the peat (5650 - 5480 cal BC) is inconsistent however with the presence of cereal pollen, which is normally only found in sedeiments that are of neolithic and later in age. The presence of cereal pollen in a Late Mesolithic context at Horton Kirby is therefore hiughly significant and supports findings from a small number of sites in the UK for pre-Neolithic cereal cultivation. Above this point in the sedimentary sequence, the pollen record indicates an overall increase in non-arboreal taxa, indicating an environment significantly modified by human activities, which undoubtedly involved woodland clearance, cultivation and grassland formation, rather than the consequences of natural environmental change." (1)

<1> ArchaeoScape Consulting, 2007, Land at the former Horton Kirby Paper Mill, South Darenth, Kent: Environmental Archaeological Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE13041.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref.	Source description
<1>	Unpublished document: ArchaeoScape Consulting. 2007. Land at the former Horton Kirby Paper Mill, South Darenth, Kent: Environmental Archaeological Assessment.