Monument record TR 36 SW 1344 - Bronze Age Beaker Burial, Cottington Hill

This was discovered during evaluation work conducted by the Trust For Thanet Archaeology in 1990 ahead of construction of a golf course at Cottington Hill. The burial was revealed during excavations to confirm the southern return of a Roman building foundation, the foundation trench having encountered the burial, damaging the beaker. The crouched burial was lying left side down facing north, with the spine scull axis east-west, head west and the baker positioned in front of the face. A modern drainage trench had removed the rib cage and all of the skeletal material was very friable, most bones being present only as colour traces. Because of the condition of the bone, about all that can be said of this individual is that this was an adult of slight stature, tooth attrition suggests middle age. The form of the beaker is one found in Clarke's AOC Class and more commonly in his E.Anglian series. Its all over decoration of horizontal lines is found in both classes, but the cottington Hill Beakers motif (short shallow close spaced incised lines) appears to be unique. If the beaker is in the E.Anglian series, it should (according to present thinking) belong to the date bracket 2000-2500 BC (1)

<1> Trust for Thanet Archaeology, 1990, Archaeological Remains at Cottington Hill, Ebbsfleet, Ramsgate (Unpublished document). SKE29234.