Monument record TR 36 NE 552 - Early and Late Neolithic Activity, Ellington School, Ramsgate

An evaluation by Canterbury Archaeological Trust in 2005 found possible evidence of Late Neolithic activity. This mostly consisted of finds from later features but some may have been of this date. Finds included pottery and a faceted rubbing or hammerstone. (1)

Although the excavation identified very little if any structural evidence of Neolithic settlement anywhere on the site, activity and probable occupation in the area is clearly represented by the considerable assemblage of later Neolithic flint-work recovered during the excavation of later features and during the initial machine stripping of the various layers of ploughsoil and developed soils which overlay the site. This assemblage included a very fine leaf-shaped arrowhead located at the base of a large, metalled hollow way F50, in Area C1; a number of faceted flint hammerstones recovered as residual finds and two polished axes, other finished implements and a large quantity of struck flakes recovered from pit F138, also located in Area C1. A small assemblage of later Neolithic pottery was also recovered which included a partially complete, although fragmented grooved ware vessel; the base of a vessel from evaluation trench TR 10, and as residual sherds from a number of features in areas A3 and C1. It is also possible that a series of segmented ditch-lines forming a funnel shaped enclosure located immediately to the north-west of the hollow way may have their origins in the Neolithic period, although a secure date for these features will rely on the results of further pottery and environmental analysis. (2)

Several hundred bulk samples were taken from the site during excavation mainly representing prehistoric activity, and many produced charred plant remains. Two assemblages from Neolithic pits were of particular interest. The pits were thought to have had ritual significance, both on artefactual evidence - the lower fill of one contained a large assemblage of worked flint, including flint axes, scrapers and some flint-tempered potsherds, and on the character of the charred plant assemblages. Wheat grains from the lower fills of both pits were submitted for accelerator dating, and dates of 3765-3722 cal BC (UBA-13517) and 3695-3651 cal BC (UBA–13518) were obtained. The range of dates overlaps those obtained from an early Neolithic grain deposit from excavations at nearby Westwood Cross. The plant assemblages from the two pits showed a number of similarities and contained several types of economically important plants, suggesting that the material in the base of each pit had been deposited for very similar reasons, as placed burnt offerings. The plant assemblages from the two pits showed a number of similarities and contained several types of economically important plants, suggesting that the material in the base of each pit had been deposited for very similar reasons, as placed burnt offerings. The most abundant charred remains in both pits were fragments of hazelnut shell (Corylus avellana). Over 500 fragments were recovered from each deposit, probably representing a few handfuls of whole nuts. It was not possible to say whether whole nuts or empty nutshells had been burnt as the oily kernels rarely survive charring, and whole nuts would have become fragmented. Cereal remains in the base of one of the pits consisted primarily of emmer or spelt grains (Triticum dicoccum or spelta). Emmer is most likely since spelt has not been found in Britain from sites earlier than the middle Bronze Age. There were also smaller numbers of grains of compact-type wheat (T compactum-type) and poorly preserved barley (Hordeum). No chaff was present in this feature, suggesting that processed grain had been burnt, and weeds were represented only by a single black bindweed seed (Fallopia convolvulus). In the base of the other pit the grain was primarily of compacttype wheat, with a few grains of bread-type wheat (T aestivum-type) and emmer or spelt. A distinctive spikelet fork confirmed the presence of emmer. There were also a number of cultivated flax seeds (Linum usitatissimum) and a couple of flax capsule fragments, together with a few seeds of dock (Rumex), vetch (Vicia/Lathryus), cleavers (Galium aparine), grass (Poaceae) and a single henbane seed (Hyoscyamus niger). The low numbers of weed seeds and chaff indicated that the grain in both deposits was fully processed. Cereals and hazelnuts are likely to have been chosen as votive offerings because they were valued food crops. Seeds and capsules fragments of flax might represent its use for fibre, or as an oilseed/food/medicinal plant. Some of the weed seeds may also represent deliberately burned offerings, particularly henbane. The striking-looking plant is highly poisonous and has been used medicinally and for hallucinatory purposes. It therefore has a potential use during rituals, and may have been highly symbolic. It grows on nutrient-rich disturbed soils in places such as farmyards but not so commonly, either now or in the past (judging from archaeobotanical assemblages), that it is likely to have been growing nearby and become incorporated into the assemblage by chance. Nutrient enrichment of soils around pyres and sacrificial sites might have provided a suitable habitat, but even if the plant was growing as a weed, it is likely that use would have been made of such a distinctive and powerful plant. The presence of a compact form of free-threshing wheat is of interest in its own right. The grains were characteristic, being extremely small, rounded, bluntended and deep, with a rounded embryo depression, and were probably club wheat (Triticum compactum). However, grain dimensions for club wheat overlap with those for bread-type wheat and the identification cannot be confirmed without rachis fragments, which were absent from both deposits. It has therefore been referred to as compact-type wheat. The fact that almost all of the wheat from these early features was extremely small and blunt-ended suggests that the remains were a distinct crop, not simply the tail-grain (sieved-out, less-developed grains from the top and bottom of the ear) from breadtype wheat crops. Club wheat has been described by Percival as the oldest type of wheat cultivated in Europe. It is also the earliest known form of hexaploid wheat, having been recorded from Syria c 7000 BC (Simmonds 1976). Compact-type wheats were being grown in parts of Europe that produced the earliest traces of agriculture by the end of the fourth millennium BC (Zohary and Hopf 2000). Few sites in Britain have produced positively identified pure club wheat assemblages. It has been recorded in a ritually-placed assemblage at Le Pinacle, Jersey (Carruthers 2001), and more recently from an early medieval assemblage from Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Club wheat is a useful crop in exposed areas since it is resistant to wet weather, frost and drought, and will grow on poorer soils than bread wheat. It is still grown in Central Asia and China, and in the north-west United States and Canada. It has a relatively low gluten content and is used in some breakfast cereals, and for making crackers and pastry (Davidson 2006, 847).

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2005, Ellington School, Pysons Road, Ramsgate, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE12808.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2006, Ellington School, Pysons Road, Ramsgate, Kent: Archaeological Excavation Stratigraphic Report (Unpublished document). SKE29567.

<3> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2011, Canterburys Archaeology 2010-2011 Vol. 35 - Palaeoenvironmental studies (Article in serial). SKE59088.