Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne, Kent - Post-excavation Assessment

Wessex Archaeology

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned to undertake archaeological mitigation works, comprising the excavation of a 4.5 hectare parcel of land centred on NGR 589935 160250, at Kent Science Park, Shimmin Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 8BZ.

Eight ditches, four pits and two quarry pits were recorded during the excavation, with a further six pits and a posthole identified during a trial trench evaluation in 2021. Four of the pits, all of which were small and shallow, are attributable to the later Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. Two pairs of shallow, truncated ditches probably formed the remains of trackways, at least one of which was potentially broadly contemporary with the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age pits. Other ditches can be correlated with agricultural land divisions marked on late 19th- and 20th-century OS maps, whilst the remainder of the features are of uncertain date and function.

A small, limited assemblage of finds was recovered, the most notable elements of which are a small collection of Late Bronze/Early Iron Age pottery, retrieved mainly from pits, and a backed flint blade
of probable Late Glacial/Early Mesolithic date that was found residually during the trial trenching.