Neolithic Discoveries at Pegwell Bay, Isle of Thanet
ABOVE: Ditch terminals under excavation facing south east.
FRONT PAGE: View of the excavated enclosure facing north west.
FRONT PAGE (INSET): Selection of Earlier Neolithic flint blades.
In the summer of 2007 the Trust for Thanet Archaeology carried out an area excavation on a development site in Pegwell, near Ramsgate, formerly occupied by a 19th century lodge used most recently as a Nursery School. The site is on high ground on the eastern side of a north-south aligned valley leading down from Nethercourt towards the coast at Pegwell. To the rear and west of the site are the grounds of the Court Stairs Lodge Hotel and to the east are the imposing West Cliff Terrace Mansions. The site had been extensively terraced and built over in several phases as recently as the 1970’s, but surprisingly when the buildings and foundations were carefully removed, two linear features were exposed, cut deep into the chalk and separated by a narrow gap between their terminals. Although only a small element remained it is likely that they were part of a causewayed enclosure, the second Neolithic structure to be found in the same valley. Part of another causewayed enclosure was discovered during excavations for the Ramsgate Harbour Approach Road at Chilton in 1996.
The primary cuts of two linear ditches with rounded terminals formed a narrow causeway entrance at the northern extent of the feature. In plan the ditches formed a gentle curve which when projected suggested a diameter of around 104m for the feature and may have enclosed an area to the south of the excavated elements. The features had been formed by a series of separate component cuts that combined to form the final shape.
ABOVE: Sherd from an Earlier Neolithic carinated bowl.
to form a continuous curvilinear ditch. No internal features were encountered when the area was stripped, probably due to terracing of the site in the past. The earliest deposits within the ditch were chalk grit-based and fine silty clay of natural origin that appears to have eroded into the ditch through frost action. The ditches may have remained open for some time, being carefully cleaned out and maintained. Pottery and animal bone were mixed within the earliest deposits and two cattle skulls were found with other bones close to the base at the eastern terminal and at the western end of the same ditch. The natural processes of frost erosion and weathering occurred fairly soon after cutting of the ditches and was unchecked by human activity for some time. Periods of abandonment and recutting were suggested by the stratigraphy, indicating that the area was only sporadically occupied over a long period of time. The earliest fills in the ditches were truncated by a pit cut to search for flints.
This sparsely occupied phase was followed by more intensive activity involving scooping out hollows from the excavated debris which were filled with deposits containing significant amounts of cultural material and food waste from butchery and shellfish. Evidence of butchering and additional deposition suggests a sustained, possibly seasonal reoccupation by a fairly large number of people. The deposits of large quantities of animal bones suggest the dumping of butchery waste, perhaps after extracting residual nutrition by splitting the bones for marrow and boiling for stock. This could indicate the by-product of a seasonal slaughter perhaps carried out within the enclosure. The eastern terminal had a small pit cut in the centre, filled with fine ashy material containing more decorated pottery and fine flintwork. The pit had been filled with a deposit of clay then recut with a broader hollow with sloped sides. This second cut was also filled with a fine ashy deposit containing Neolithic pottery and mussel shells. The western terminal contained similar recuts filled with organic debris, marine shells and animal bone. In many of the hollows the uppermost fills contained spreads of animal bone in large quantity suggesting the disposal of substantial amounts of butchery or food waste into the gentle hollows that formed over the ditches and cuts below, possibly in the later prehistoric period. The final phases of deposition in all the segments explored had large quantities of disarticulated animal bone from a variety of species including pig, sheep or goat and cattle and horse. In one deposit at the eastern end three cattle ribs apparently still in their correct association was encountered, possibly indicating the deposition of a butchered cut of meat. At the eastern end of the excavation area a large quantity of animal bone was deposited in what must have been nothing more than an earthwork of the enclosure.
The Finds
A review of the worked flint shows that a significant proportion is residual, only a few contexts do contain solely fresh-looking lithics, while other contexts feature a combination of fresh, phase-contemporary and earlier residual material. Many blade flakes were recovered from the fills, with some contexts producing significant quantities. Finely worked blades and bladelets which had been soft hammer-struck from blade cores were particularly noted, as were the relatively frequent occurrence of serrated blades. Most of the finely worked flint is Earlier Neolithic. Several residual flints tools of Neolithic type have been recovered, these include at least two leaf-shaped arrowheads, a single piece flint sickle and scrapers on large, thick, hard hammer-struck flakes. Both residual and fresh cores of likely Earlier Neolithic date have been recovered from differing contexts. Some contexts provide evidence for the use of glauconitic Bullhead Bed flint and the utilisation of nodules, which had been freshly extracted from the Upper Chalk. Some instances of the burning of pieces of worked flint have been recognised.
A review of the pottery during post-excavation processing revealed that the assemblage was dominated by flint tempered fabrics in varying degrees of coarseness; only one small, thin, worn, oxidised sherd of grog tempered pottery was noted. A selection of the Neolithic pottery reviewed by Dr. Alex Gibson were dated to 3800-3600 cal BC, closely paralleled by the assemblages from enclosures at Sheppey and Chalk Hill nearby. Examples of the ‘tub-shaped’ sherds, carinated sherds and linear decorated rim sherds were seen. A couple of pieces exhibited a finger-tip decoration more typical of Middle Neolithic Peterborough Ware, though in comparison with those examples known from Thanet the sherds appeared to be from vessels with a more organised decoration. Pierced holes of both small and large size were noted on several rim and body sherds. Among the more unusual sherds was a rim from a thin-walled fineware vessel that had been decorated internally with a single row of small round impressions above two rows of narrow oval impressions set in a herringbone pattern and externally with a single row of narrow oval impressions.
Gerald Moody and Paul Hart, Trust for Thanet Archaeology
The Trust would like to thank Mr. John Baker and Mr. Nick Baker of Willow Construction for commissioning the archaeological work. Mention must also be made of the large number of volunteers and members of the Trust’s wider family who assisted in achieving the near complete excavation of the feature and the post excavation processing of the finds. Lee Cunningham made sterling efforts on the excavation team. The excavation and post excavation was carried out by the following volunteers who made significant contributions: Euan Boat, Harold Boast, Marilyn Bishop, Zoe Calder, Jess Gibbs, Jan Lawson, Steve Moody, Pete Moody, Chris Moody, Christine Moody, Jan O’Hare, Julie Perrin, Jenny Price, Maggy Redmond, Chris Gibbs, Anthony Moody, Geoff Orton, Gordon Taylor, Bob Pantony, Dave White, Andy Woodgate and the two mystery diggers from Maidstone all made significant contributions.
BELOW: Plan of excavated area showing primary cuts.