Cliffs End Farm Isle of Thanet, Kent: A Mortuary and Ritual Site of the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon Period with Evidence for Long-Distance Maritime Mobility: 31 (Wessex Archaeology Reports) - Hardcover

McKinley, Jacqueline I.; Leivers, Matt; Schuster, Jörn; Marshall, Peter; Barclay, Alistair; Stoodley, Nick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1874350701 ISBN 13: 9781874350705

Publisher: Wessex Archaeology, 2015

Synopsis

Excavations at Cliffs End Farm, Thanet, Kent, undertaken in 2004/5 uncovered a dense area of archaeological remains including Bronze Age barrows and enclosures, and a large prehistoric mortuary feature, as well as a small early 6th to late 7th century Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery. An extraordinary series of human and animal remains were recovered from the Late Bronze Age–Middle Iron Age mortuary feature, revealing a wealth of evidence for mortuary rites including exposure, excarnation and curation. The site seems to have been largely abandoned in the later Iron Age and very little Romano-British activity was identified. In the early 6th century a small inhumation cemetery was established. Very little human bone survived within the 21 graves, where the burial environment differed from that within the prehistoric mortuary feature, but grave goods indicate‘females’ and ‘males’ were buried here. Richly furnished graves included that of a ‘female’ buried with a necklace, a pair of brooches and a purse, as well as a ‘male’ with a shield covering his face, a knife and spearhead. In the Middle Saxon period lines of pits, possibly delineating boundaries, were dug, some of which contained large deposits of marine shells. English Heritage funded an extensive programme of radiocarbon and isotope analyses, which have produced some surprising results that shed new light on long distance contacts, mobility and mortuary rites during later prehistory. This volume presents the results of the investigations together with the scientific analyses, human bone, artefact and environmental reports.

About this title

About the Author

Alistair Barclay current works as Principal Post-Excavation Manager for Cotswold Archaeology and has been involved in publication for nearly 30 years in which time he has contributed to more than a dozen monographs as co-author/editor, he has also written and edited numerous articles. He was co-editor of NSG 4: Pathways and Ceremonies: the cursus monuments of Britain and Ireland.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wessex Archaeology
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1874350701
• ISBN 13: 9781874350705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288