Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

On investigation of some previously unknown cropmarks within a ring ditch of about 11m in diameter an oval burial pit was found 0.28m below topsoil but off-centre of the ring ditch. When excavated it was found to contain a crouched burial accompanied by a long necked beaker a button of jet and a flint knife. The grave had been disturbed in antiquity. The sparse skeletal remains suggest the possibility of grave disturbance having taken place. Certain features of the grave would also suggest a later burial (itself disturbed) possibly as late as the early medieval period, superimposed on the first.

Monument Types

• OVAL BARROW (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? (at some time) to 1501 BC? (at some time))
• CROUCHED INHUMATION (Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age - 2900 BC to 1600 BC)
• GRAVE (Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age - 2900 BC to 1600 BC)
• RING DITCH (Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age - 2900 BC to 1600 BC)

Associated Finds

• BUTTON (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 1501 BC?)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 1501 BC?)
• HUMAN REMAINS (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 1501 BC?) + Sci.Date
• KNIFE (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC? to 1501 BC?)
• POT (Late Neolithic - 3000 BC to 2451 BC)
• BUTTON (Early Bronze Age - 2150 BC to 1801 BC)
• KNIFE (Early Bronze Age - 2150 BC to 1801 BC)
• POT (Early Bronze Age - 2150 BC to 1801 BC)
• BEAKER (Early Bronze Age - 2132 BC? to 1922 BC?)

Full description

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TR 35156522. On investigation of some previously unknown cropmarks within a ring ditch of about 11m in diameter an oval burial pit was found 0.28m below topsoil but off-centre of the ring ditch. When excavated it was found to contain a crouched burial accompanied by a long necked beaker a button of jet and a flint knife. The grave had been disturbed in antiquity. This in only the second beaker to be discovered in Thanet. The first bell beaker was found a Cliffsend in 1968 during the cutting of a drainage trench in Cliff View Road. The oval pit was 2.5m long and 1.7m wide with its sides near vertical to a flat floor 0.42m below the chalk surface. The remains were foundin the upper half of the pit in hard chalk rubble and silt. The skeleton consisted of cranium, leg bones, a foot bone and small fragments of arm bone. The sparse skeletal remains suggest the possibility of grave disturbance having taken place. The long-necked beaker was found, heavily cracked but still retaining some shape. Two further fragments ware also found nearby. The beaker was heavily decorated with incised horizontal lines and V patterns. The carved and polished jet button and a flint knife blade were found away from the skeleton and the beaker. A potsherd and fragments of long bone unrelated to the first burial were also found suggesting a later infill perhaps during robbery. Certain features of the grave would also suggest a second burial (itself disturbed) possibly as late as the early medieval period, superimposed on the first. (1)

The barrow was covered by later postholes containg late bronze age/early iron age pottery (TR 36 NE 406).

<1> Perkins, D. R. J. & Gibson, A. M., 1991, A Beaker Burial From Manston, Near Ramsgate, Arch Cant 1990 p11-27 (Article in serial). SKE11884.

<2> Isle of Thanet Arch Unit Sites and Mons Archive 1988 Rec no 208 (OS Card Reference). SKE44592.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Bronze Age Kent (Thematic Essay)