Barrows, Hoards and Settlements: Prehistoric Discoveries on EKA2

In 2010, the largest excavation in Britain took place on the Isle of Thanet in advance of construction of a new road, the East Kent Access Phase 2, providing improved access to Ramsgate and Sandwich. 

 

The route crossed three ‘landscape zones’, from the low lying Ebbsfleet peninsula − up to medieval times largely surrounded by water, to the Cliffsend spur overlooking Pegwell Bay, and finally up on to the high ground of the chalk ridge, with views cross the Wantsum Channel and beyond.

 

Prehistoric highlights among the numerous archaeological discoveries include 12 Early−Middle Bronze Age barrows, a cluster of Late Bronze Age−Early Iron Age metalwork hoards, and two major but very different Iron Age settlements.

 

This site will be presented by Phil Andrews at the Kent Conference this weekend. He will review, in particular, the chronological range and nature of the prehistoric discoveries, how their distribution might relate to the ‘landscape zones’, and consider the changes that took place over four millennia in this archaeologically rich island.