Since 1975 remains of humans, dog, cat, wooly rhinocerous, wild horse, wild boar, deer, ox and mammoth, have been found at Redlands pit near Sevenoaks. They were collected by the Wildfowlers Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Wildfowl Trust. A total of 429 identifiable animal remains were found over a five year period. The remains date from as far back as 36000BP, and two as recently as about 970AD.
The remains were discovered in the Darent River Gravels which varies in different parts of the pit but mainly consists of a grey, sticky, plasticene-like clay which contains marine invertebrate fossils.
A systematic list of the items excavated are:

1)Homo Sapiens- the femoral shaft of either a female or immature Homo sapiens. The age of this specimen is of considerable interest but cannot be accurately estimated.

2)Domestic Dog- Materials found were a scapula, tibia, humerus, intact skull and manidble, and femur. A well preserved skull and mandible was excavated, both are of consdierable age. The remains most likely date from early historical times. Both small and large dogs are represented in this sample.

3)Domestic Cat- Material found was a mandible. This single specimen of domestic cat is distinguishable from wild cat by the small size of the jaw and detention.

4)Woolly Mammoth- Materials found were many different samples of adult cheektooth. No skeletal remains of mammoth have been recovered at this site. The intact adult molar teeth have roots present and a tooth was clearly unrolled.

5)Woolly Rhinoceros- Materials found were the tibal and femoral shafts. It is certain that these bones cannot be later than mid-Devensian c.36,000 yr. b. p. The broad flattened femur with greatly developed thir trochanter is especially characteristic of rhinoceros.

6)Wild Horse- Materials found comprises twenty-seven cranial and eighty-nine postcranial specimens. These remains are available in the archives of the Harrison Zoological Museum. Remains of horse are one of the most abundant specimens in the gravels.

7)Pig/Wild Boar- Materials found comprises five cranial and seven postcranial specimens. The size of the posterior cheekteeth, both upper and lower, distinguish wild boar from domestic hog by average size difference in any particular region. This and the large axis vertebra appear evidence of Wild Boar in the deposit. Age of specimens is uncertain.

8)Roe Deer- Materials found were part metapodial and part antler and frontal. Both were recovered in August-December 1979 from the deep hole norther of the East Lake. This species is thus the least abundant cervid in the gravels.

9)Fallow Deer- Materials found comprises one radius, one mandible, four cranial fragments with basal anters attached, one cranial fragment and ten part antlers. The seventeen identifiable specimens of fallow deer from the gravels form a characteristic assemblage readily identifiable by their size from the larger remains of cervus and rangifer in the deposit.

10)Red Deer- Material found comprises eleven cranial, twenty-four antler and twenty-five postcranial specimens. These are available in the archives of Harrison Zoological Museum. The red deer is the most abundant Cervid in the deposit. It is probably one of the specimens present throughout the entire history of the gravels, from the Devensian to recent historial times. This is not yet confirmed by precise dating methods.

11)Aurochs- Materials found were the tibal shaft, tibal shaft and associated fragment, dital tibia, distal humerus, proximal radius, proximal horn core fragment, horn core fragment, metacarpal, proimal metapodial, horizontal ramus mandible, neural spine of vertebra, rib and part proximal radius. Remains of the aurochs are distinguishable by their massive size and more mineralised condition from the much more recent domestic cattle in the deposit.

12)Domestic Ox- Materials found comprises twenty-four cranial and one hundred and twenty-two postcranial specimens. Remains of the domestic cattle form one of the most abundant components of this collection. They are easy to distinguish by their much smaller size.

13)Domestic Sheep- Materials found comprises one cranial and sixteen postcranial specimens. These are available in the archives of the Harrison Zoological Museum. Remains of domestic sheep are considerably less abundant than those of domestic cattle and horse in the deposit.(1)

<(1)> Harrison DL, Juliet Clutton-Brock and Richard Burleigh, Arch Cant 1981, 1982, Remains of mammals from the Darent River Gravels at Sevenoaks Reserve, Kent (Article in serial). SKE29333.