The light, chalky soils of Thanet are particularly good for producing cropmarks, but the modern landscape has biased our information considerably. the massive coastal resorts of Ramsgate and Margate are now almost completely unresponsive to cropmark formation, and Manston Aerodrome, situated on high ground in the middle of the Island, has restricted the scope of aerial reconnaissance. Nevertheless, Thanet is one of the two best regions for studying cropmarks in Kent, and is of special interest because it was separated from the mainland by a tidal estuary until at least the 11th century AD (Hill 1981).

With two possible long barrows and seven possible henges, there is plenty of scope for suggesting that Thanet was an important focus in the early prehistoric period. It also contains a very high density of Bronze Age barrows, some of which form the largest known cemeteries in Kent. There is also good reason to believe that its share of  'Bronze Age' and 'early Iron Age' enclosed settlements was equal to anywhere else in Kent on present evidence.

There is evidence of denser enclosed settlement in the late Iron Age and early Roman period: interestingly, the north east of the island appears to have been reserved as a massive cemetary during the Bronze Age, to become heavily settled during the Iron Age. 

Later Roman influence appears to have concentrated in the north-west of the island, near the fort at Reculver, and some of the Bronze Age barrow cemeteries may have acted as foci for pagan Saxon barrows.

Despite its dense settlement, Thanet does not have the same density of ditched trackways that are found in south east Kent. This may be due to different farming practices (ditched droveways may not have been needed), but it is also possible that the present road system may be of considerable antiquity: up to one third of enclosures provisionally dated to the late Iron Age/Roman periods appear to have been bisected by modern roads, or appear to be associated with them closely. If the dating is correct, then the relationship is surely too high to be a coincidence: it implies that some of Thanet's modern roads have late prehistoric origins.

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