In 2005 Oxford Archaeology carried out an excavation on land east of Tesco Extra, Westwood. The earliest features found were a cluster of Early Neolithic pits. In total 48 sub-circular pits were found. While the pits at the southern end of the site were largely devoid of datable material, small amounts of early Neolithic pottery were found in three of these features. This may provide an indication of the date of the southern pit group as a whole. Pit 1421 was located close to the western limit of excavation. It waws very shallow, concave feature measuring 0.95m in diameter and 0.05m deep. The fill of pale silty sand yielded a fragment of a decorated bowl. A short distance to the south east, features 1465 and 1471 formed part of a complex of four intercutting pits. These pits were oval in form, measuring 0.5-1.3m in diameter and 0.17-0.68m in depth. All had mottled fills of sandy silt. Also lying within the southern pit group was pit 1524 which had been partially excavation during evaluation, producing early neolithic pottery and flintwork. Full excavation of the pit produced no further finds other than one piece of burnt flint. The feature measured 0.8m in diameter and was 0.66m deep, with a dark homogenous fill which appeared to represent an ash rich dump. A further 20 pits were excavated in this southern group while around 25 were left unexcavated. The excavated exampled measured up to 2.1m in diameter and 1.0m in depth. No finds were recovered other than a moderate amount of worked flint. Most of the pits had a bowl shaped profile and a single fill of dark brown silt. It is also notable that four of the pits were cut by ditches which have tentatively been dated to the Bronze Age. it thus seems possible that the southern pit group as a whole dates to the earlier Neolithic. (1-2)

<1> Oxford Archaeology, 2005, Land Adjacent to Tesco Extra, Margate Road, Broadstairs, Kent: Post Excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design (Unpublished document). SKE17691.

<2> Oxford Archaeology, 2006, Prehistoric Activity at Westwood, Broadstairs: Draft Publication Report (Unpublished document). SKE17692.