Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of Romano-British property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. Within property 11, which was located between the junction of Watling Street and its branch road, was a pit that had been cut into the roadside ditch containing a ritual deposit. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• PIT (Roman - 50 AD? to 150 AD?)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Roman - 50 AD? to 150 AD?)

Full description

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Excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in 2002-3 identified a number of Romano-British property boundaries west of the Ebbsfleet. Within property 11, which was located between the junction of Watling Street and its branch road, was a pit that had been cut into the roadside ditch containing a ritual deposit. The pit lay close to the western limit of excavation and 8m to the west of another ritual deposit of a human skull which was within the fills of the ditch. The pit has been assigned a early roman date on the basis of the pottery located within it. It contained a horse skull in the base and appears to represent example of a ‘placed’ deposit in this area, of which there are several other examples within the immediate vicinity. (1)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2010, Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley. CTRL Excavations at Springhead and Northfleet, Kent. The Late Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval Landscape (Unpublished document). SKE31245.

Sources and further reading

Related records