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:
North of Saltwood Tunnel,ARC SLT99,Excavation,Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd,23/07/99 - 31/01/00,615550 136920,,Kent,Shepway,Saltwood,,"Round barrow, inhumation cemetery (extended inhumations), cremations, drainage system, Grubenhaus?, Hollow way.","BA, IA, RO, EM, MD, PM",The topsoil and subsoil were removed by machine.   Linear and curvilinear features were 10% excavated by hand.   Pits and post holes were excavated by 50-100% and cremations 100% hand excavated.   Layers and deposits were excavated by <5% sample. An Archaeological Watching Brief was also undertaken between May and September 2000.,"The earliest activity was represented by section of a possible BA barrow ditch in the SW corner of the site.   ?Prehistoric cremations were in diffuse scatter, and a ?Roman inhumation also present.   ?Early Roman/Belgic pits or quarrying were found in the SW corner.   Ditches and field boundaries/drains date to the Early Medieval/Medieval period.   The latest phase was the Post Medieval ditch and scoops/post hole in the NW corner.",Little environmental data was recovered.,"Bone 13 fragments, pottery 263 fragments, small finds;  3 Fe objects, 1 amber bead.","Typical Argillic Brown Earth soils (Fyfield 2 soil series) above sandy Humo-Ferril Podzols (Shirrell Heath 2 soil series) developed on sandy Folkestone Beds.   Recent agriculture has transformed the upper horizons into a homogenised brown plough soil.   These soils are well-drained and prone to water erosion.   The upper soils have slightly alkaline values (pH 7) while the underlying Shirrel Heath podzols have very cidic values (pH 3) - this accounts for the very poor bone preservation.   These soils are prone to leaching with distinct panning of Fe and Al minerals.   The downward leaching of humus and clay minerals is very distinct - producing thin, roughly horizontal layers (humic laminae).",1100,"Development.   Construction of, and works associated with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.",20,"Investigation of the site followed excavations to the east (SLT 98) and west (SLT 98C), which had revealed a multi-phase settlement and Anglo-Saxon cemetery on a Bronze Age ring ditch respectively.   SLT 99 must therefore be interpreted within this wider context.   Excavation has provided evidence of activity spanning the Late Iron Age (c.100BC-AD43), Roman (c.AD43-410) and Medieval periods; no physical evidence of Anglo-Saxon activity has been identified, the only Middle Saxon pottery sherd recovered as an unsratified surface find.   No securely dated features have been identified as Prehistoric, although residual coarse flint tempered pottery and burnt flint was present in later features.   An area of dark soil in the south eastern limit of the area investigated has been highlighted as beling of probable Prehistoric origin.   A short section of a curvi-linear ditch has been identified in the south western corner of the site, the pottery from which dates to the Late Iron Age, with Belgic and Early Roman material present in later backfills; this feature has been identified as a large funerary structure.   A group of nine cremation burials were also encountered, one of which included Late Iron Age sherds; it is likely the rest of the group are contemporary.   Evidence of Roman activity seems limited to possible quarrying, implied by a number of scoops along the north and west areas.   Backfilling of the curvi-linear ditch similarly dates to the Roman period.   It is speculated that the east-west aligned inhumation, to the north-east of the cremation group, is associated with a large sub-rectangular structure to its east, also Roman in date.   The other significant phase of activity belongs to the Medieval period, consisting of long stretches of drainage ditches and field boundaries.   This rectilinear field suystem appears to correspond to the similar feature identified to the west, in SLT 98.   Post-Medieval activity was limited to a short stretch of field drain, cutting a medieval ditch, and a small gully to the north.   A number of pits, ceramic pipes and brick inspection pits are most likely to be associated with the military use of the site in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  A second excavation was undertaken during March to May 2000, the principle features identified in this phase were a large barrow ditch, a much smaller barrow ditch, two crouch burials and an Anglo-Saxon cemetary consisting of 51 inhumations, and a Hollow way complex.  Three further inhumation burials were excavated during the watching brief phase. ","Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd., 92a Broad Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2LU.",
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