Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A Middle and Late Bronze Age field system was uncovered during excavations ahead of development at Springhead. A minimum of 6 enclosures were identified and later excavations revealed that the system extended further to the north. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• FIELD SYSTEM (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• CREMATION (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• END SCRAPER (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• FLAKE (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• LOOMWEIGHT (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• SHERD (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)
• VESSEL (Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 1600 BC to 701 BC)

Full description

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A Middle and Late Bronze Age field system was uncovered ahead of excavations ahead of development at Springhead. Originally the feature had been interpreted as a Roman field system during the evaluation trenching across the site undertaken in 2003 that discovered several sections of the enclosure twoards its eastern end. (1) A minimum of 6 enclosures were identified and later excavations revealed that the system extended further to the north. The field system was constructed in a NNW-SSE alignment, though in places the natural topography has been taken in consideration so in the steeper areas towards the western part of the site, the boundaries follow a NW-SE alignment. A minimum of six separate blocks were identified with a central ENE-WSW aligned ditch that bisects the bounded landscape. The three northern blocks are longer and narrower than those to the south. The northern fields varied slightly in size, the eastern was roughly 170m (N-S) by 70m, the central was 174m (N-S) by 62 and the western field was 189m (N-S) by 64m. in general the ditches were relatively narrow and shallow and had clearly been truncated to some extent, they tended to range between 0.6m and 0.9m in width and 0.2m to 0.4m in depth. (2-4)

In 2012 Wessex Archaeology carried out a strip, map and sample excavation on the North Kent Community Church site to the north of the 2007/8 work. Ditches of the field system were found to continue across the site. (5)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2004, Springhead Quarter Ebbsfleet, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE12271.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2008, Archaeological Investigations at Springhead Quarter (Phase II), Northfleet, Kent: Archaeological Assessment Report and Updated Project design (Unpublished document). SKE17943.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 2008, Springhead Quarter: Phase 2 & Phase 3 Trial Trench Evaluation, Ebssfleet, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE17952.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2006, Springhead Quarter Phase 1, Ebbsfleet, Kent. Archaeological Excavation Results Summary (Unpublished document). SKE30745.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2012, North Kent Community Church, Springhead, Ebbsfleet, Kent: Archaeological Assessment Report (Unpublished document). SKE18142.

Sources and further reading

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