Wessex Archaeology Springhead Quarter Ebbsfleet, Kent - Archaeological Evaluation Report

Wessex Archaeology

Forty-eight out of 107 trenches contained archaeological features. A high number of these were single and often undated features of a rural nature, such as field ditches.

Early prehistoric evidence consisted of residual worked flint within the fills of later features and colluvial subsoils, mostly concentrated along the western edge of the Site. In this area, some trenches revealed stratified colluvial deposits, and a small amount of Mesolithic/Neolithic flintwork was recovered from within and beneath the lower colluvium, indicating a potential for buried in situ evidence.

A localised but intense concentration of late Early/Mid Iron Age possible enclosure type activity with early Roman re-cuts was identified in two trenches. Animal bone, pottery, frequent briquetage and possible structural remains, such as a hearth, suggest the presence of a settlement.

A small concentration of features with Roman artefacts were recorded at the north-eastern extreme of the Site, but their interpretation remains ambiguous due to extensive modern truncation. Residual Iron Age and Roman artefacts were also moderately frequent along the western Site boundary and probably originate from post-Roman ploughing and soil erosion of sites excavated during the CTRL investigations. In the projected extension of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery a total of nine probable inhumations, four possible additional interments and two cremations were identified but not excavated.