Virtual Museum Bronze Age Gallery Display 4 Link - Causewayed ring-ditches and roundbarrows excavated on Thanet

Investigations at the site of the former St. Stephen's College (NFB99) uncovered a wealth of archaeological remains aside from the Causewayed roundbarrow. These included a much larger Bronze Age roundbarrow (North Foreland II) and a third (apparently burial-less) ring-ditch monument (North Foreland I) which had been bisected by a wall.

The bulk of the archaeological features were the result of settlement activity conducted at this hill-top location throughout the Iron Age. Evidence of their pits (including large grain storage pits) and post-holes (representing wooden structures and fence-lines) were widespread. There was also a rectangular enclosure and a substantial boundary ditch which skirted around the small Causewayed roundbarrow.

Small fragments of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the Causewayed barrows' ring-ditch, shallow central burial and flint pit (see below) and reasoned to be an intrusive 'contamination' of this substantially earlier monument.

Plan of the NFB99 excavations (TTA)
Plan of the St. Stephen's College 1999 excavations

Plan of the St. Stephen's College 1999 excavations

The Causewayed roundbarrow is directly to the left of the scale

Given the barrow's position overlooking a valley which leads north-eastwards to the sea, the idea of a large post which could have acted as a landmark or seamark is quite attractive.

Could this have been an original feature of the monument, or perhaps a later Iron Age addition (a few scraps of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the pit, but are thought to be intrusive). Could it have been a navigation aid, perhaps helping boats to target a landing at Joss Bay on their way to the Iron Age hill-top settlement (Moody pers comm.)?

A recent review by Ges Moody of the linear cropmarks which can be seen running along the side of the hill show that they descend towards the valley bottom at Joss Bay and this has led him to a new interpretation that they may represent (multi-period?) trackway ditches rather than the defensive ditches of a 'hillfort' or hill-top settlement.

A small grave was cut into the base of the ditch to the west of the causeway. This is a unique feature for a Thanet roundbarrow and is quite probably a rare occurrence generally.

A large fragment of whalebone had been placed across this grave, a little to one side.

Within the grave were the remains of a child, perhaps between 9-10 years of age (of unknown sex). The body had been laid in a crouched position on its right-hand side, with the head facing south-east. The tightly crouched position suggests that child's body may have been bound or wrapped before it was placed within the grave (Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006).

Once backfilled, a large fragment of whalebone had been placed across one side of the grave. Whalebone is found only rarely on excavations in Thanet. This piece presumably came from a carcass that could have been washed up on a local beach and was likely viewed as a rare and prized resource.

It appears that the whalebone would not have been visible on the surface however, for it had been covered by a small mound of earth which overlapped the edge of the grave-cut. It also appears that the barrow ditch had been purposely backfilled 'soon after the burial had been inserted' (Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006).

Bibliography

Boast E.J., Gardner O.W. and Moody G.A. 2006. Excavations at St. Stephen's College, North Foreland Broadstairs, Kent. Trust for Thanet Archaeology report.

Fisk P.M. 2003. An examination of the excavated ring ditch enclosures on The Isle of Thanet. Unpublished Degree thesis.

Perkins D.R.J. 1999. A Gateway Island. Unpublished Doctoral thesis.

Acknowledgments


		Bronze Age 2000 - 700 BC
Return to Causewayed ring-ditches and roundbarrows excavated on Thanet Display Contents Causewayed ring-ditches and roundbarrows excavated on Thanet Link - North Foreland III The Causewayed barrow The internal burials The flint pit The ditch burial		North Foreland III, 1999 Investigations at the site of the former St. Stephen's College (NFB99) uncovered a wealth of archaeological remains aside from the Causewayed roundbarrow. These included a much larger Bronze Age roundbarrow (North Foreland II) and a third (apparently burial-less) ring-ditch monument (North Foreland I) which had been bisected by a wall.



The Causewayed roundbarrow as first exposed The central features ready for excavation (photo by TTA) Near scale in 0.1 metre divisions Far scale in 0.5 metre divisions		The bulk of the archaeological features were the result of settlement activity conducted at this hill-top location throughout the Iron Age. Evidence of their pits (including large grain storage pits) and post-holes (representing wooden structures and fence-lines) were widespread. There was also a rectangular enclosure and a substantial boundary ditch which skirted around the small Causewayed roundbarrow. Small fragments of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the Causewayed barrows' ring-ditch, shallow central burial and flint pit (see below) and reasoned to be an intrusive 'contamination' of this substantially earlier monument. Plan of the NFB99 excavations (TTA) The Causewayed roundbarrow is directly to the left of the scale
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Plan of the graves and flint pit (TTA) Section through the ring-ditch		The Causewayed roundbarrow This small barrow was around 10m in diameter and had a narrow causeway (0.40m wide) to the north side of the monument. The ditch was not perfectly circular (few are). Some parts of the ditch circuit had been cut in slightly straight-ish sections which gives a somewhat segmented appearance to the monument as a whole. Could this have been the result of the ditch being dug in a series of pre-defined sections (D.R.J. Perkins), perhaps as a communal task by several individuals within a family or small community group? That presents a nice image, but must remain forever speculation.
In the middle is the rectangular central burial and adjacent circular flint pit At the top right is the second grave in an oval pit Two other small pits lie behind the central burial Several small post-holes can also be seen
		Within the bounds of the ring-ditch were two shallow graves containing the poorly preserved remains of two crouched adult inhumation burials. There was also a circular pit which had been packed with flint. A couple of other (unproductive) small, shallow pits and small post-holes were also present.
The unexcavated graves of the two occupants of the Causewayed roundbarrow can be seen in the centre and the top left of the picture below		A third grave, holding the remains of a child and capped by a large fragment of whalebone, was cut into the base of the ditch to the west of the causeway. Top
In the foreground is a sub-circular pit which had been filled with a tightly packed deposit of burnt flint nodules, capped by large tabular slabs of flint and sandstone The true relationship between the pit and the central rectangular grave is not entirely clear Has the pit avoided cutting the earlier grave, or vice versa? The pictures seem to suggest that the grave may be respecting the edge of the circular pit Personally I feel that the pit may have been dug as a result of the ceremonial activities which surrounded the interring of the primary grave and/or the founding of the Causewayed monument Perhaps this small enclosure had a previous life as a family's private ceremonial monument before being used as their burial ground? Several small pits and post-holes were found within the enclosure Many other interesting possibilities exist - see further below! All ideas are worth exploring in an attempt to help us perceive the lives of our ancestors who walked the hilltop at North Foreland some 4000 years ago Scale in 0.1 metre divisions Photo by TTA		The internal burials
The second, outer grave and the remains of its occupant It lay to the south-east of the rectangular central burial		The bones which remained in the central rectangular grave indicated that they belonged to an adult of approximately 25-35 years of age. The body had been laid in a crouched position with the head to the south, facing west. The grave was only around 0.30m deep, but the surviving soil backfill suggested that the body may had been laid within a wooden coffin-structure (Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006). A second, oval-shaped grave was situated to the south-east of the first and this contained just a few fragments of human bone. Little could be learned from these remains, save that they represented a single individual, laid in a crouched position with their head to the west end of a virtually east-west aligned grave.
Perhaps the most important question is unanswerable - why were these particular individuals selected for burial here and what happened to the remains of the rest of what must surely have been been a much larger family group Did they get their own roundbarrow or flat-grave burial elsewhere? Or were their remains treated in an entirely different fashion - one that left no trace for us to find today North is approximately to the top of this picture Scale is in 0.5 metre divisions Photo by TTA
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Scale in 0.1 metre divisions Photo by TTA		The flint pit Close to the rectangular central burial was a circular pit which contained a mass of burnt flint nodules capped by four larger pieces of beached-sourced tabular flint and four slabs of sandstone (of non-local Greensand/Ragstone perhaps; Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006). The heating of nodules of flint for use as pot-boilers and also for providing the raw material of a tempering agent used in pottery production (though employed much less frequently in the Early Bronze Age) was a widespread practice throughout the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age. However it is very unusual to find such a mass of burnt flint buried within a feature. The capping of this deposit with large slabs of flint and sandstone seems to suggest an act of purposeful deposition and may be one that was either connected with the burial rites conducted at this monument, or perhaps its founding.
Scale in 0.5 metre divisions Photo by TTA
Today the Joss Bay Gap is 840m away, while eastwards the coast is as little as 385m However, around 2000 BC the coastline could have been approximately another 1.2km distant (Perkins 1999).		Other theories also exist, including the idea that it is 'a relic of some form of structure associated with the secondary use of the barrow... some time after the original construction' (Boast and Moody in Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006). It could be that 'the pit represents a post hole with the flints providing a pad for a large post acting as a marker possibly relating to the phase of activity which includes the use of the Barrow causeway, the insertion of the burial into the Barrow ditch and its subsequent backfilling' (Boast and Moody in Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006).
The view across the central burial and the causeway down the valley towards the sea This view appears to have greatly influenced the position of the monument and the orientation of the causeway and the central burial A couple of the small, shallow pits can be seen to the right of the picture
It is thought that the tidal currents around North Foreland were particularly hazardous and would have generally been avoided by the early Prehistoric seafarers. The Wantsum Channel was a much safer route, but one that may have been strictly controlled by some of the inhabitants of the Isle of Thanet, perhaps allowing the creation of a rich 'Gateway Community'. The potentials and limitations of Prehistoric sea-going boats is another subject entirely of course (and one about which I know little!) Recently the focus of an article in Archaeologia Cantiana by Thanet Trust's former Director Dr. David Perkins, we may return to this topic in the future!		Given the barrow's position overlooking a valley which leads north-eastwards to the sea, the idea of a large post which could have acted as a landmark or seamark is quite attractive. Could this have been an original feature of the monument, or perhaps a later Iron Age addition (a few scraps of Iron Age pottery were recovered from the pit, but are thought to be intrusive). Could it have been a navigation aid, perhaps helping boats to target a landing at Joss Bay on their way to the Iron Age hill-top settlement (Moody pers comm.)? A recent review by Ges Moody of the linear cropmarks which can be seen running along the side of the hill show that they descend towards the valley bottom at Joss Bay and this has led him to a new interpretation that they may represent (multi-period?) trackway ditches rather than the defensive ditches of a 'hillfort' or hill-top settlement. Top
		The ditch burial A small grave was cut into the base of the ditch to the west of the causeway. This is a unique feature for a Thanet roundbarrow and is quite probably a rare occurrence generally. A large fragment of whalebone had been placed across this grave, a little to one side.

		Within the grave were the remains of a child, perhaps between 9-10 years of age (of unknown sex). The body had been laid in a crouched position on its right-hand side, with the head facing south-east. The tightly crouched position suggests that child's body may have been bound or wrapped before it was placed within the grave (Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006). Once backfilled, a large fragment of whalebone had been placed across one side of the grave. Whalebone is found only rarely on excavations in Thanet. This piece presumably came from a carcass that could have been washed up on a local beach and was likely viewed as a rare and prized resource. It appears that the whalebone would not have been visible on the surface however, for it had been covered by a small mound of earth which overlapped the edge of the grave-cut. It also appears that the barrow ditch had been purposely backfilled 'soon after the burial had been inserted' (Boast, Gardner and Moody 2006).
Small scale in 1 and 5 centimetre divisions Large scale in 0.5 metre divisions
		It is hoped that future radiocarbon-dating (should some spare funds become available) will throw some light on the context of this intriguing monument.
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		Abbreviations TTA - Trust for Thanet Archaeology.
Its a fair cop!		Bibliography Boast E.J., Gardner O.W. and Moody G.A. 2006. Excavations at St. Stephen's College, North Foreland Broadstairs, Kent. Trust for Thanet Archaeology report. Fisk P.M. 2003. An examination of the excavated ring ditch enclosures on The Isle of Thanet. Unpublished Degree thesis. Perkins D.R.J. 1999. A Gateway Island. Unpublished Doctoral thesis. Acknowledgments I should very much like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of archaeologist Trevor Beale (pictured left). He excavated much of this important monument and worked extensively on Thanet's archaeological sites over many years, making a major contribution to the exploration of our heritage (and on-site entertainment). Thanks Trevor!
		The text is the responsibility of the author; the photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated. The site and feature plans are by the Trust for Thanet Archaeology.
		Paul Hart Version 1 - Posted 21.10.06 Top
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