Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

13 inhumation burials were discovered during excavations associated with the construction of the East Kent Access route in Thanet (Zone 12). Ten were grouped together and appeared to form a linear cemetery associated with a contemporary hollow way. Two of the burials were radio-carbon dated to the middle Iron age. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CEMETERY (Middle Iron Age - 400 BC to 101 BC)
• INHUMATION (Middle Iron Age - 400 BC to 101 BC) + Sci.Date

Associated Finds

• ARMLET (Middle Iron Age - 400 BC? to 101 BC?)
• NAIL (Middle Iron Age - 400 BC? to 101 BC?)
• RING (Middle Iron Age - 400 BC to 101 BC)

Full description

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There were 13 inhumations burials in Zone 12, ten of them were in a group with the remaining three more isolated, although located in the same general area and probably broadly contemporary. Further fragments of human bone came from the colluvial desposits ion this area, the small number of bones representing an infant and an adult. In addition what may have been the remains of a further in situ burial came from a ditch exposed in a pipe trench which ran parallel to the northern edge of excavation, approximately 15m to the north of the main group of burials. The group of ten burials were all aligned north-south and positioned between the hollow way and its western flanking ditches. They appear to run almost in a line over a distance of approximately 14m. The graves had an average length of 1.75m a width of 0.6m and depth of only 0.1m and several were very difficult to discern in plan. The burials comprised five adults, two sub adults/adults, two juveniles and an infant. All were buried supine of flexed except one. There was only one definite grave good, an iron ring around the left humerus of an adult female burial. In addition two fragments of a broken shale armlet rough out came from one grave but were not clearly associated with the body and may have been re deposited with it. The same may apply to an iron nail which was discovered in another grave. Bone from two of the graves was submitted for radio carbon dating. One produced a date of 410-210 cal BC and the other 380-200 cal BC indicating that both are of a middle Iron Age date. In addition, teeth from four burials were sampled for isotopic investigation of residual mobility. In summary the results indicate that all four individuals spent part of their childhood elsewhere, though where exactly is a matter of uncertainty. This provides some comparative data for the contemporary burials at cliffs End Farm, where all of the individuals had been subject to isotope analysis with intriguing results indicative of migration. (information summarised from source) (1-2)

<1> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2011, East Kent Access (Phase II), Thanet, Kent: Post-Excavation Assessment Volume 1 (Unpublished document). SKE29279.

<2> Andrews et al, 2015, Digging The Gateway: Archaeological Landscapes of South Thanet. The Archaeology of East Kent Access (Phase III) Vol 1: The sites (Monograph). SKE55517.

Sources and further reading

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