Holborough Quarry
Archaeological excavation during the summer and autumn of this year by Canterbury Archaeological Trust, to the east of Holborough Quarry at Snodland in Kent, has identified the site of a Late Bronze Age settlement (c. 900 BC). This excavation followed a programme of evaluation and mapping also carried out by the Trust. The site lies within an area which has revealed a comparatively high concentration of archaeology encapsulating the prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. Much of this came to light during the quarrying work and included Mesolithic and Neolithic artefacts, a Roman burial mound and evidence of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.
Although the site has been truncated by agricultural activity over a protracted period, with only deeply cut features surviving the plough, the spatial spread and close grouping, particularly of post holes, clearly suggests the presence of built structures and activity areas representing a settlement of some significance (fig. 1).
A single ring ditch surrounding the post holes of at least one major roundhouse survived against the western boundary of the excavation. Rubbish pits found immediately east of the structure, support the assumption that the ring ditch represented a structure of domestic type. Amongst the finds from the pits was a large collection of Late Bronze Age flint-tempered pottery and a number of baked clay loom-weights, testifying to the manufacture of woollen textiles. A large number of animal bones recovered from the pits clearly indicate the keeping of livestock, while carbonised pulses and grains recovered from soil samples indicate the growing of cereals and vegetables. Further evidence for agricultural activity in the form of four-posted structures, which are usually interpreted as granaries, were also identified.
Elsewhere the site appears to have been subdivided by two linear ditches, both aligned east-west. The northern ditch may have defined the northern boundary of settlement, with few features surviving to the north of it. The southern ditch (a segmented feature, with lengths of ditch separated by causeways) was also a site boundary, but perhaps separated activity areas within the settlement. The eastern settlement boundary adjoins the quarry, the western boundary was undefined.
The area between the two ditches appears to have been for domestic use. A number of rectangular and circular structures defined by groupings of post holes were suggested. To the south of the putative domestic area were a significant number of pits and fewer post holes, which probably represent drying racks, cattle pens and other structures associated with production of food and other day-to-day activities. Most significant perhaps was the survival of at least ten pits containing cremated human bone, testifying to burials south of the domestic area. A further three cremations were identified on the western side of the site, extending westward from the end of the southern ditch.
Although most of the pits in the southern zone contained domestic refuse, a number of pits in a group located a short way south of the southern boundary provided rare evidence for metal working. Amongst the group one pit contained a large assemblage of clay mould fragments (figs. 2 & 3). These have now been cursorily studied by Dr Stuart Needham of The British Museum, Department of Prehistory—one of the leading specialists in prehistoric metalworking. Dr Needham has reported that the moulds from the Holborough site represent one of the best assemblages he has seen from the British Isles and are of national importance. The mould fragments, representing the clay casting for a Bronze sword (probably of Ewart type, fig. 4) manufactured approximately 3000 years ago in the Late Bronze Age, will without doubt place Holborough Quarry as a "type site" in the archaeological literature in years to come.
The site has been handed back to Berkeley Homes (Eastern), who funded the excavations, although further work next summer to complete the investigation will have to wait until the relocation of a badger sett.