Saltwood Tunnel (North of), ARC SLT 98C (Cemetery Area)
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2004. (updated 2017) https://doi.org/10.5284/1044828. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Stuart
Foreman
Senior Project Manager
Oxford Archaeology (South)
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1837
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1044828
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
An early Anglo-Saxon cemetery was located over and beyond the ring ditch. Sixty-three graves of early Anglo-Saxon date were identified, extending in date from c. AD 550-675. The graves include two elaborate ‘princely’ burials, as well as fifteen other weapon graves. Coptic bowls were found in both of the ‘princely graves’. Female grave goods include beads, bracelets, finger rings, keys and chatelaines. Knives were identified in 28 of the graves. Six graves included ceramic vessels, all of which have been made in local fabrics, in a range of forms.
Bone survival was generally very poor and human skeletal remains were only recovered from a few of the graves. One of the burials was that of a horse, interred without any grave goods.
Graves within penannular ditches were located on the periphery of the cemetery at the north and the south-east. There were single examples of cist graves, chamber graves and burial within a hollowed section of a tree, as well as traces of five coffins. The relative sizes of the graves, and the range of grave goods, suggests that both adults and juveniles were buried in the cemetery. From the grave goods alone, it can be suggested that seventeen of the burials included males, and eight were those of females.
