Monument record TR 15 NW 2643 - Middle Bronze Age to Middle Iron Age settlement on land off Cockering Road, Canterbury

Middle Bronze Age - Middle Iron Age ditches and pits were excavated during an evaluation on land off Cockering Road, Canterbury in 2017. The Bronze Age ditches are thought to have formed part of a field and enclosure system.
Bronze Age activity at the site comprised the excavation of a pit (1.5m in width and 0.15m in depth), which contained Early Bronze Age Beaker pottery within its fill. This was followed by the digging of a series of 7 or 8 linear features thought to represent an enclosure system dating to the Middle Bronze Age. These features measured between around 0.67-1.66m in width and 0.17-0.84m in depth, these features were U-shaped. Associated with the fills of these linear features were pieces of worked later prehistoric flint and charred cereal grains.
Other Bronze Age features from the site included three ditched boundaries measuring between 0.44-1.78m in width, and 0.3-0.58m in depth; two of these features were U shaped, and one was V shaped. These features are thought to represent elements of a Middle Bronze Age enclosure system which continued in use into the Iron Age. Artefacts associated with the fills of these features included Early Bronze Age - Early Iron Age pottery, burnt flint, and worked flint.
During the Early-Middle Iron Age there was some continuation of use of earlier Bronze Age features at the site, alongside the digging of 6 pits. These measured between 0.65-1m in width and 0.15-0.28m in depth and were U shaped in form. The pits were located within the area of the Middle Bronze Age enclosures. They contained pottery, small quantities of charred cereal grain (barley), and worked flint within their fills. Another Middle Iron Age pit at the site contained "significant quantities of pottery, burnt flint and daub...The burnt flint appears to be uniformly heated which suggests industrial or craft processes were taking place in this area...The daub displayed evidence of firing, and exhibits flattened surfaces and contains wattle/rod impressions. These characteristics suggest these fragments may have been part of a wall structure that may have been unintentionally burnt: possibly associated with the same industrial process that produced the burnt flint" (from the original report, 1).
The report suggests that there is a possibility of flintworking at the site continuing into the Iron Age - which has been identified as a research priority should any further work at the site be undertaken.
The features' projected alignments have been digitised in order to see their potential extent.
The lack of animal remains has been interpreted as linked to the acidic nature of the soil. (1)

Two areas underwent strip, map, and sample excavation in June and July 2017, one to the west and another to the east of the site. Two large enclosures and a possible trackway were identified, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, alongside ditches and pits dating from the Middle Bronze Age to the early Iron Age periods.

One enclosure was located in Area 1 to the west of the site and comprised two ditches, whilst the other enclosure was located in Area 2 to the east of the site and comprised three ditches. Both the enclosures were associated with finds of Bronze Age pottery and worked flint. The enclosures were probably created for the management of livestock.
A possible trackway was also identified in Area 2, consisting of two parallel ditches which may have been dug to delineate a track aligned E-W across the excavated area. No evidence for surfacing of the trackway was identified.

Two groups of pits were associated with Late Bronze Age activity in Area 2. These were associated with a large number of artefacts including pottery, worked flint, and charred plant remains. Some of these may have functioned as rubbish pits for the deposition of waste associated with a nearby domestic settlement. The deposition of several near complete vessels in one group of pits was suggested (2) to have potentially been a special or formal deposition. The earlier enclosures appear to have fallen out of use by the Late Bronze Age as one of the enclosure ditches is truncated by a Late Bronze Age pit.

During the Early Iron Age, a cluster of pits was dug in Area 1, alongside some isolated pits, and a single ditch which was tentatively dated to the Early Iron Age. Some of the pits contained fragments of fired clay within their fills, some of which showed eviednce for wattle impressions. Pottery alongside charcoal and charred plant remains including wheat, barley, and oat grain were also recovered from the fills of the Iron Age pits. The ditch is interpreted as a potential limit for the pitting or settlement activity, or could alternatively be interpreted as a possible enclosure ditch. The pits and ditch are interpreted (2) as evidence for a settlement or occupation activity taking place at the site during the Early Iron Age. (2)

<1> Oxford Archaeology East, 2017, Land off Cockering Road, New Thanington, Canterbury, Kent: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Unpublished document). SKE55658.

<2> Oxford Archaeology East, 2018, Land off Cockering Road, New Thanington, Canterbury, Kent Excavation Report March 2018 (Unpublished document). SKE58705.