EVENT_NAME,EVENT_CODE,EVENT_TYPE,CONTRACTOR,DATE,GRID (NGR),PROJECT,COUNTY,DISTRICT,PARISH,SMR,SITE_TYPE,PERIOD:,METHOD:,PHASING:,ENVIRO:,FINDS:,GEOLOGY:,CONTEXT_NUM:,THREAT:,SAMPLE:,SUMMARY:,ARCHIVE:,ACC_NUM:
SOUTH OF SNARKHURST WOOD,ARC SNK99,EXCAVATION,OAU,22/1/99-17/2/99,558227 145517,CTRL 420,KENT,MAIDSTONE,HOLLINGBOURNE,,Settlement; metal production furnace;,EBA;LIA;RO;PM,"Strip, map and sample site in two seperate areas totalling c.1.36ha in size.  Machine stripped with features being dug manually by hand.",No phasing completed as yet," Twenty six samples from South of Snarkhurst Wood were selected for assessment; these were taken from pits, ditches and postholes, and were processed for the extraction of charred plant remains. An assessment of the processed flots demonstrated the presence of low levels of seeds and chaff, including hulled wheat and barley. There appears to be no relationship between the quantity and quality of the remains and feature type. The range of material noted in the samples is generally typical of the late Iron Age and Roman periods throughout southern Britain, with spelt wheat the dominant cereal and hulled barley also cultivated. The role of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) is less well known than spelt for this period","Worked and burnt flint (c. 138 pieces) included a concentration at the western end of the site, in broadly the same area as a scatter identified by the surface collection survey. This material included several characteristic early Bronze Age pieces, including a plano-convex knife, a backed knife and a piercer. The remainder of the flint is likely to be residual in Iron Age and Roman contexts or unstratified. One interesting find was an opposed platform bladelet core of possible Mesolithic date.
Pottery included an estimated 1882 sherds, predominantly of late Iron Age or early Roman date. The assemblage is dominated by late Iron Age coarsewares, with only a few Romanised sherds. 
A small assemblage of metalwork was recovered, including a single, as yet unidentified, copper alloy object.
Burnt human bone was recovered from a single cremation deposit.
A small assemblage of animal bone, in a variable state of preservation, comprised c. 598 fragments.    
The slag and fired clay recovered was mostly associated with a small kiln or furnace.
Post-medieval finds include glass and ceramic building material.","The site lies close to the foot of the North Downs escarpment, between the villages of Hollingbourne, Eyhorne Street and Bearsted. The geology consists of Folkestone Sand Beds. Just to the north of the CTRL corridor the Folkestone Beds are overlain by Gault Clay. The site lies between the M20 Motorway (near Junction 8), the Maidstone to Ashford Railway and Snarkhurst Wood. A balancing pond, lying between the two excavated areas, occupies most of the width of the rail link trace in the central part of the site, and a culverted stream crosses the site in the same area. The land is undulating, ranging from c. 57 m OD at the western end of the site to c. 63.5 m at the eastern end.",242,Channel Tunnel Rail Link construction and associated working area will result in extensive ground disturbance.,,"OAU was commissioned by Union Railways (South) Limited (URS) to undertake detailed archaeological investigation at the site of South of Snarkhurst Wood, Hollingbourne, Kent. This work formed part of an extensive programme of archaeological investigation carried out in advance of the construction of the CTRL. 

The site is centred on URL grid point 62280E 35170N and NGR grid point TQ58227 45517. The site, which was specified as strip, map and sample, was excavated between 22nd January and 17th February 1999. 

The site was excavated in two parts (Areas A and B): The eastern part (Area A) produced evidence for a settlement of late Iron Age and early Roman date (1st century BC – 1st century AD). Features included rectangular and sub-rectangular enclosure ditches and several post-hole structures, including one small, circular building with a central post, and five four-posters. Other evidence for occupation included a small kiln or furnace associated with metal-working slag, and several storage or rubbish pits. Burial evidence was restricted to a single cremation. The settlement is likely to be a continuation of the site identified during construction of the Maidstone by-pass in the 1950’s. The features were overlain by elements of the post-medieval field system and a possible trackway. Features to the west of the main post-medieval boundary were very severely truncated by ploughing, which seems to have entirely removed all but the deepest Iron Age features.

The western part of the site (Area B) produced a small scatter of worked flints from tree-throw hollows and the stripped surface, including several characteristic early Bronze Age pieces (a plano-convex knife, a backed knife and a piercer). Other flints include a bladelet core of possible Mesolithic date, also from Area B. The location of the flints coincides broadly with a scatter recovered from the ploughsoil during the surface collection survey. No definite archaeological features were identified in this area, although a series of irregular linear soil marks may be field boundaries of indeterminate date, and a single possible pit was identified.",OAU,