Large Henge Discovered in Kent

Ancient henge discovered in North Downs
Tuesday, September 04 2012

by Chris Hunter

 

An ancient ceremonial site the size of Stonehenge has been discovered on the North Downs.

Archaeologists have uncovered a stone age henge near Hollingbourne
Picture: Paul Wilkinson

The exact purpose of the site - a neolithic “henge” near Hollingbourne - remains shrouded in mystery, but a large amount of burnt bone and pottery uncovered suggest it was used in a ritual capacity for almost 2000 years, as far back as 2500BC, the end of the Stone Age.

Dr Paul Wilkinson (pictured below) of the Kent Archaeological Field School, which led the investigation, said the first tantalising clue had come in the form of a circular mark spotted in satellite images of a tract of land called The Holmsdale, near the Pilgrims Way.

Digging began last month and has revealed a 50 metre wide henge - a large earthwork consisting of a circular area surrounded by a ditch and a perimeter bank - which has horn shaped entrances to the east and west.

“I couldn’t believe the size of it,” said Dr Wil.kinson. “When you saw it you knew it was special.
“It’s a magnificent monument which would have taken a lot of time to create. It’s a brilliant site.”

Also uncovered in the dig were antlers and cattle shoulder blades, which archaeologists believe could have been used as pick axes and shovels by the workers who first dug the henge out.

The lack of any sign of habitation within the circle further strengthens the theory that it had a ritual use.

The burnt remains of human bones are likely to have been from cremations, while its east-west entrances could have been aligned to mark the sunset and sunrise.

With the surrounding landscape blocked from view, those standing in the henge can see only the sky - so could the henge and its alignment have some astronomical or astrological purpose?

Dr Wilkinson says looking at prehistory is like “looking into a void” and any theories are speculative.
“With prehistory, it’s very enigmatic but really we have no idea,” he said. “We approach it from 21st Century mind-set but you have to put your head into the heads of those who built it, which is difficult.”

But the discovery is undoubtedly significant.

Previously discovered Bronze Age barrows, ancient springs and trackways nearby meant the area was long known to have prehistoric importance, but the discovery of a henge - rare in South East England and almost unheard of in Kent - makes the site doubly significant.

Three 4,000-5,000 Year Old Female Burials Uncovered in Kent

Major discoveries.  Note the photo below showing TWO henges, one of which appears to be untouched!  The description of the "triple pot" is also absolutely fascinating.  Are the women related?  Could they be mother and two daughters, for instance?  The ages seem about right.  But -- who knows.  We may never know, unless DNA testing is done on bone fragments from the three females' remains.  And that pot - I want to know more about that!

What is most incredible is that the British Isles have been one of the most intensively occupied countries for thousands of years, and yet all of these wonderful things continue to be discovered -- it seems nearly daily there is something in the archaeological news about this or that being uncovered.

From Discovery News
Prehistoric Teen Girl's Grave Found Near Henge
The finding of the 17-year-old girl's grave adds more evidence that henges were linked to death rituals.

By Jennifer Viegas
Thu Oct 6, 2011 02:31 PM ET

Four to five thousand years ago, a wealthy teenage girl was laid to rest in a grave at what archaeologists believe is a newly found henge in Kent, England.

The discovery of the 17-year-old's grave -- along with a unique prehistoric pot inside of a ringed ditch near two other women -- strengthens the idea that important death-related rituals took place at many of these mysterious ancient monuments when they were first erected.

"What is becoming clear is that with a series of major excavations in Kent linked to road and rail works, and new aerial photography, there are many circular earthworks that look part barrow and part henge, and like the one fully excavated example at Ringlemere (Kent), some of these may be both," said archaeologist Mike Pitts, publisher of British Archaeology, where a summary of the recent finds appears.

"This comes after many years in which archaeologists believed there were no henges in south-east England at all," Pitts told Discovery News.

Staff from Oxford Wessex Archaeology, during recent extensive excavations, discovered the early teen's grave on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, near what is now Manston Airport. The girl was buried laying on her side with flexed limbs, with an unusual pot standing by her right elbow.

Pitts explained that the pot consists of three small bowls joined together. Separately made pots were joined with bridging clay before decorating and firing, he suspects. Neil Wilkin, a researcher at the University of Birmingham studying early vessels, said the features of the pot confirm its suspected age and attribution.

Only one other example of multiple joined pots from the time has been seen before, Pitts said. In that other case, just two small bowls were attached together.

Two other women, aged 25-30 and 35-50, were also found buried inside the 72 feet-wide ditch. It remains unclear if the number of attached pots was somehow tied to the number of women found at the site. What is clear is that they must have been wealthy individuals. A conical amber button was located near the teenager's head. She might have then worn clothing bejewelled with amber accents.

A separate Kent excavation, near Maidstone, uncovered the new likely henge. Such monuments are seen across Britain, but this latest one may be only the second henge known to exist in south-east England.

The actual "circle" or henge is the one that is barely visible where one part of it touches the road -

the white line cutting across the northeast corner of the photo.. You can see the "indentation"

where the excavation is taking place.  The other smaller circle that is more clearly delineated

near the center of the field does not appear to have been touched!

Pitts said the henge "is 49 meters (161 feet) across with clear entrances at the north-west and south-east...Two parallel straight ditches were seen apparently preceeding the ring ditch on the west, and two lengths of enclosing ditch were also exposed."

Paul Wilkinson, who conducted the dig and is director of the Kent Archaeological Field School, found charcoal, bones and pottery laying on the surface of both ditch terminals. Some of the pottery was discovered crushed and in tight clusters with small fragments of burnt bone, suggesting the pots had been urns holding cremated remains.

"The clincher will be if it is Grooved Ware," said Pitts, who explained that this type of decorated pottery tends to be associated with many henges.

Kent may be home to even more henges, according to archaeologist Paul Hart of the Trust for Thanet Archaeology. He explained that "sandstone doggers (boulders) can be found in deposits which are exposed in the cliff of Pegwell Bay and may also exist in pockets along the southern coast of the Isle."

Accessibility to materials like these boulders, and the stones of Stonehenge, likely influenced where early monument builders worked. But henges made of wood were probably even more common, leaving behind what are now often difficult-to-detect traces of their existence.

Discoveries from Yet Another English Henge

This one is Marden Henge -- you can find a model here. It's located about halfway between Avebury and Stonehenge.  The diagram below is from The Modern Antiquarian. 

Feast of finds at Marden
12:14pm Thursday 29th July 2010
by Lewis Cowen

Archaeologists have unearthed a prehistoric henge at Marden, near Devizes, where worship, business and feasting would have gone on 5,000 years ago.

The discovery at Hatfield Farm, never before investigated, has excited the world of archaeology and is more impressive than the recent finds at Stonehenge.

The area under investigation comprises a circular bank and ditch, the distinctive indications of a henge, built by neolithic people between 2500BC and 2300BC, contemporary with Stonehenge, Avebury and Durrington Walls.

The team led by English Heritage archaelogist Jim Leary have been bowled over by their discoveries.

Mr Leary said: “All the literature on this area would lead you to believe it was ploughed out but in fact it has never been ploughed.”

The excavation on top of the bank has unearthed the foundations of a rectangular building with chalk walls.

Mr Leary said: “This would not have been a residence. It could have been a place of worship or a communal building.”

The team also discovered a midden, or rubbish tip, with evidence of great feasting. The 5,000-year-old bones of pigs, some still attached to each other, have been found in perfect condition.

TV archaeologist Phil Harding of Channel Four’s Time Team, who visited the site on Friday, said: “This is amazing. You can see it all there. It accentuates how valuable the work going on here really is.”

Artefacts discovered include a perfect flint arrow head, a stone hammer or pestle and a small red stone worn very smooth, thought to have been used to work leather or burnish pottery.

At the centre of the site, about 200 metres from the henge, the team are having slightly less success with the area where a mound claimed to have been 15 metres high, half the height of Silbury Hill, existed until the early 19th century.

Mr Leary said: “William Cunnington and Henry Colt-Hoare, who were among the first archaeologists in Wiltshire, drove a shaft straight down the centre of it in 1806.”

Two days later the shaft collapsed. An antiquarian writer passing a few years later was distressed to see the farmer had levelled the site.

But the English Heritage team are still finding valuable information from the trench they have dug.

Archaeologists believe the finds are far more significant than the wooden henge discovered at Stonehenge last week. They say that, far from Stonehenge existing in glorious isolation, it has long been known it was part of much larger complex of henges and burial sites.

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More info in an article by Maeve Kennedy at The Guardian:
Was Marden Henge the builder's yard for Stonehenge?
July 28, 2010