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Building a settlement at Thanet Parkway (Part 1)

Updated: Jan 12, 2022

Last time we were celebrating the weather turning a corner and thankfully that has continued. The site, although still partially underwater, is looking much better thanks to the efforts of the team on site.

An aerial shot of different coloured soils representing archaeological features. Spray paint has been used to highlight the location of the features.
The freshly trowelled area reveals a structure (centre-right) and associated features

The archaeology coming up is typical of a small, rural, settlement with an agricultural economy. At the moment we do not have the exact dates for the different structures but we believe there are people living on site from the Iron Age through into the Roman period.

Five holes (about 20cm in diameter) arranged in a rough circle contain stones used as post-pads for a structure
Post-holes containing stone post-pads

Evidence for structures is in the form of post-holes, ring gullies, and Sunken Feature Buildings. How many of these structures were contemporary with each other is still to be determined and we are finding more every week!

A row of small holes forms a semi-circle representing the walls of a roundhouse. There is a larger gully shadowing the outside of the semi-circle representing a drip gully. Small post-holes can be seen inside the building too.
Evidence of a Iron Age roundhouse with a drip gully and post-holes
A Roman Sunken Feature Building being excavated
 

Thanet Parkway is to be a new railway station on the Ashford International-Ramsgate line. Details on the proposed station can be found on the Kent County Council website here. The archaeological work at Thanet Parkway is being managed by the WSP Cultural Heritage and Archaeology team. If you would like to ask a question about the excavation please email us using the contact form on our main page or by leaving a comment here. Questions about the station and project can be raised with KCC from their website here.

Follow on social media #thanetparkway

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