In 1998 Museum of London Archaeology Service carried out an excavation as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project. An inhumation was found, dating to the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. The burial consisted of two flexed adults and the disturbed remains of a child aged between 3 and 5 years old who had been buried in the upper fill of the grave. The lower adult was probably female and had the head to the south. The upper adult was possibly male and had the head to the north. Both were aged between 26 and 45, based upon the condition of their teeth. The lower burial was radiocarbon dated to 2120-1780 cal BC and the upper to 2280-1980 cal BC. That the upper burial is perhaps three generations older than the lower is not explained, but could result from disturbance of the burials. A complete Beaker vessel was found associated with the lower adult. A second fragmented vessel was associated with the upper burial. No trace of a barrow was found but one could have existed and been ploughed flat over the 4000 years since the burials took place. There were a few features in the immediate area that could be of similar date and possibly related. (1-3)

<1> Museum of London Archaeology Service, 1998, Project Area 330 Northumberland Bottom ARC WNB 98 Archaeological Excavation Interim Report (Unpublished document). SKE12767.

<2> Museum of London Archaeology Service, Oct 2001, Area 330 (Zone 3) Northumberland Bottom (ARC WNB 98) Archaeological Post Excavation Report (Unpublished document). SWX12866.

<3> Oxford Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture, 2006, The Prehistoric, Roman and Medieval Landscape at Northumberland Bottom, Southfleet, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17842.