Ringlemere 2003
In March 2003 archaeologists returned to Ringlemere, near Sandwich, to continue excavations at the site where the spectacular early Bronze Age gold cup was discovered in November 2001. This year's programme was again possible through the generosity of the landowners, the Smith brothers of Ringlemere Farm. The work was funded by substantial grants from the KAS, the BBC and the British Museum. Progress of the excavation was filmed throughout by a professional team from the BBC (fig. 1) and this should be screened, as part of the new ‘Hidden Treasures’ series, sometime during September.
The excavations were headed by members of Canterbury Archaeological Trust but the bulk of the digging was undertaken by a team from the Dover Archaeological Group, assisted by members from Thanet, Lenham, Maidstone and Otford Archaeological Societies, as well as a number of other volunteers. The entire operation served as a splendid example of what can be achieved by amateurs and professionals working in close co-operation and should serve as a model for other projects being undertaken in the County.
Top: The BBC film progress as the top-soil over the Bronze Age barrow is carefully cleared away. Photo by Tina Parfitt
The main aim of this year’s investigation was to re-examine the central part of the round barrow previously identified and to try and determine the exact diameter of its enclosing ditch. The great ditch was located in roughly its expected position and the overall diameter of the enclosed area can now be confirmed as being 41.50 metres (136 feet). Excavation of this ditch revealed that it was over 2 metres (6 feet) deep and in times of wet weather had sometimes held water. The ditch seems to have been completely silted and invisible by the Roman period.
Many centuries of ploughing have removed all but the base of the barrow mound; originally it might have stood to a height of around 5 metres (16 feet). Such dimensions would have made the barrow one of the very largest in southern Britain.
Survival of the mound had served to trap evidence of earlier activity below and it can now be seen that a major late Neolithic settlement had existed on the site of the barrow around 700-1000 years earlier. The inhabitants of this settlement used highly decorated Grooved ware pottery and the assemblage of such pottery from Ringlemere is now by far the largest from Kent and one of the largest from anywhere in south-east England. Whether this coincidence of location is purely fortuitous remains to be considered in the light of further excavation but some sort of link presently seems possible.
In order to set the site into its local context, field-walking and metal-detecting of the adjacent field was undertaken, in search of evidence for any settlement associated with the barrow. This has confirmed that a spread of prehistoric struck flints and calcined flints occurs across the entire area. Metal-detector surveys have also revealed a light scatter of Roman coins but the most significant discovery was a rare early Iron Age brooch probably imported from France (fig. 2). This represents an important new find for Kent but belongs to a period not previously represented at Ringlemere.
Below: The Iron Age brooch. Photo by Richard Hoskins
As part of the TV programme, some experimental archaeology was undertaken in an attempt to ascertain the possible uses of the numerous calcined flints (‘pot-boilers’) which occur in large numbers across the site, fish and meat were cooked in a pit using heated flints. The resulting cooked food was entirely edible and the waste material left-over consisted of calcined flints identical to those found in the Ringlemere excavations and on many other prehistoric sites in Kent. Details of this interesting experiment will be written up in due course. NB: the calcined flints from the experiment were carefully removed from the site in order not to contaminate the area and bias the results of any future field-walking exercise.
Ploughing continues to erode the Ringlemere barrow and it is intended to fully excavate the complete monument over the course of the next few years. Hopefully, we will also be looking at some of the other, smaller barrow sites known from crop-marks in the same field. The field-walking too will be continued as the crop rotation allows. The general impression is that the entire Ringlemere area has a very high archaeological potential and more important discoveries are anticipated. Anyone wishing to assist in the September excavations should contact the writer.
Keith Parfitt