Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A whale skeleton found during a watching brief ahead of gravel extraction, Denge West Quarry.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 898 AD to 1000 AD) + Sci.Date

Associated Finds

• BUTCHERED ANIMAL REMAINS (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 873 AD to 1043 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

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In 1995 a watching brief at the Denge West Quarry recorded a second whale from the area, more complete than the example found 700m to the southwest. It too had been butchered. (1)

The find spot of the bones of either a northern or southern right whale (Eubalena glacialis or E. Australis respectively)

The bones lay on top of a stratum identified as an intertidal flat and were buried beneath shingle.

Parts of the cranium are missing and much of it has been fragmented, probably by mechanical extraction of gravels. Cut marks are also evident upon the cranium, consistent with an attempt to remove the mandible.

Radiocarbon dates from Queens University Belfast returned a calibrated age of 873-1043AD (2-4)

<1> Archaeology South-East, 1994, Interim Statement on the Results of the Watching Brief at Denge West North Quarry (Phases 1 - 5), Lydd, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE6610.

<2> Gardiner, M., Stewart, J. & Preistley-Bell, G., 1998, Anglo-Saxon whale exploitation: Some evidence from Dengemarsh, Lydd, Kent (Article in serial). SKE16132.

<3> Romney Marsh Research Trust, 2010, Romney Marsh Research Trust Gazetteer 2010 (Unpublished document). SKE16034.

<4> Luke Barber and Greg Priestley-Bell, 2008, Medieval adaptation, settlement and economy of a coastal wetland: The evidence from around Lydd, Romney Marsh, Kent (Monograph). SKE17399.

Sources and further reading