Monument record TQ 96 SW 1308 - Late Iron Age and Roman ditches, quarries, post-holes, and pits, Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne

Late Iron Age and Roman ditches, quarries, post-holes, and pits were identified during an evaluation carried out at Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne in 2015. A number of large enclosure ditches and pits were identified to the south of the site, with a single ditch located to the north, suggesting that the focus of activity was predominantly to the south. The results of the excavation combined with those of the geophysical survey indicated that a possible bivallate enclosure with internal partitions could exist to the south, however, this is not clear. Structures may also have existed at the site, indicated by daub recovered from deposits and the fills of features.
At least one large quarry pit (8m in length, 15m in width, and 0.95m in depth) was located during excavations. Pits containing burnt material and artefacts relating to low levels of metal smithing and smelting, including slag and fragments of metal were also identified, indicating that various industries were being practiced at the site during the Late Iron Age/early Roman period.

Environmental analysis of samples taken from deposits at the site dating to 10-160 AD revealed the presence of crop plants (predominantly barley and wheat, numbers of wild food sources including cherry/blackthorn and hazelnut, and the presence of oak wood charcoal, indicating that a woodland could have existed near the site. Burnt bone was recovered during sampling, and the site is located on or near a Roman cemetery excavated by antiquarians, therefore, the bone could be funerary in character. However, the fragments are undiagnostic so may represent burnt animal bone indicative of domestic occupation at the site.

Pieces of prehistoric pottery and worked flint were also recovered during the excavations, however, these are considered (1) to be residual in nature. (1)

<1> Archaeology South-East, 2015, Archaeological Evaluation Report Swanstree Avenue, Sittingbourne, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE58334.