| Abstract: |
East Kent has been a gateway for new people, cultures, ideas and trade for thousands of</div>
years. The Isle of Thanet, now joined to the mainland following the silting and reclamation</div>
of the former Wantsum Channel, was at the forefront of these movements.</div>
A Kent County Council programme to build a new road link, the East Kent Access, in</div>
the south-east part of Thanet resulted in the largest archaeological project carried out in</div>
Britain in 2010. An Oxford Wessex Archaeology joint venture undertook the excavation</div>
of 48 hectares along the 6.5 kilometre route, revealing a wealth of archaeological evidence</div>
spanning the Palaeolithic to the Second World War.</div>
Volume 2 presents the analysis of the finds, environmental remains and the extensive</div>
radiocarbon dating programme, and includes the largest published assemblage of unburnt</div>
and cremated human bone from Thanet. Amongst the finds the worked flint, the Iron Age</div>
coins and the later prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon metalwork are of particular</div>
interest, and there are important assemblages of prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon</div>
pottery, worked stone and fired clay. Highlights from the environmental remains include</div>
the large assemblages of animal bone and charred plant remains and the unique evidence</div>
for Anglo-Saxon shellfish processing.</div> |
