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:
WEST OF BOARLEY FARM,ARC BFW98,EXCAVATION,OAU,22/11/98-18/12/98,575250 160300,CTRL 420,KENT,MAIDSTONE,AYLESFORD;BOXLEY,,pholes; pits; cremations; animal burials,LIA;RO,"Strip, map and sample on area c. 1.0 ha.  Machine stripped, features dug by hand.",No phasing completed as yet.,"Grain, chaff, charcoal.  Environmental sampling was intensive throughout the programme of excavation (including White horse Stone and Pilgrims way). A series of bulk samples, incremental samples and intact monoliths were taken, to look for various environmental indicators and for analysis of the deposits themselves. Samples were taken for mollusc and insect analysis, recovery of charred plant remains, artefacts and animal bone, palaeomagnetic dating, micromorphology, pollen, OSL dating, pedology, particle size analysis and soil chemistry.  Comparative samples were taken from the much shallower dry valley sequence at the West of Boarley Farm site  The overall strategy involved sampling a percentage of features for the retrieval of animal bones, artefacts and charred remains, with an emphasis on selecting a representative spatial distribution of the major feature types, and applying more detailed sampling to contexts with particularly good preservation. Samples were generally collected without removing artefacts or animal bones, except in the case of fragile finds. For animal bones a group of three complete late Iron Age/ early Romano-British animal burials were found at West of Boarley Farm. The animal burials are of intrinsic interest because of the completeness of the skeletons, in addition to any light they may shed on ritual practises in the later prehistoric period.","1200 pieces of worked and burnt flint; a large pottery assemblage (of late Bronze Age to early Iron Age date from the excavated settlement and a small quantity of Neolithic pottery; an outstanding group of ironwork including a knife, four iron awls and a small curved iron blade from one cremation; evidence for metal-working, including a group of pits filled with iron slag and hearth bottoms.   Other finds included pottery, CBM, shell, metal, stone, flint, glass, slag, fired clay and burnt flint."," The sites lie at the foot of the escarpment of the North Downs, on the east side of the Medway Gap. The excavation areas included two dry valleys, the second, much smaller dry valley, lies further to the east and was investigated in the West of Boarley Farm site. The solid geology is Middle Chalk with a Holocene soil sequence from topsoil to overlying bedrock of middle chalk..",178,Channel Tunnel Rail Link construction and associated working area will result in extensive ground disturbance.,,"
The Boarley Farm excavations produced three possible ritual deposits, including burials of a cow, a sheep and a horse, of probable late Iron Age or early Romano-British date.  Structures include a poorly defined series of dispersed post-hole groups and alignments, which could represent fenced stock enclosures.By the late Iron Age or early Roman period there seems to have been a significant settlement shift, to the south-east of the Pilgrim?s Way. There is no clear evidence for a settlement of this date, but several dispersed posthole structures and alignments, cremations, pits and animal burials have been found at the Pilgrim?s Way and West of Boarley Farm sites, probably indicating occupation on or near the sites.",OAU,