Excavations at Cliffs End Farm, Thanet, Kent, undertaken in 2004/5 uncovered a dense area of archaeological remains including Bronze Age barrows and enclosures, and a large prehistoric mortuary feature, as well as a small early 6th to late 7th century Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery. An extraordinary series of human and animal remains were recovered from the Late Bronze Age–Middle Iron Age mortuary feature, revealing a wealth of evidence for mortuary rites including exposure, excarnation and curation. The site seems to have been largely abandoned in the later Iron Age and very little Romano-British activity was identified. In the early 6th century a small inhumation cemetery was established. Very little human bone survived within the 21 graves, where the burial environment differed from that within the prehistoric mortuary feature, but grave goods indicate ‘females’ and ‘males’ were buried here. Richly furnished graves included that of a ‘female’ buried with a necklace, a pair of brooches and a purse, as well as a ‘male’ with a shield covering his face, a knife and spearhead. In the Middle Saxon period lines of pits, possibly delineating boundaries, were dug, some of which contained large deposits of marine shells. English Heritage funded an extensive programme of radiocarbon and isotope analyses, which have produced some surprising results that shed new light on long distance contacts, mobility and mortuary rites during later prehistory. This volume presents the results of the investigations together with the scientific analyses, human bone, artefact and environmental reports.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Summary
• Foreign language summaries
• Chapter 1: Introduction by Jörn Schuster
  • Location and Geology
  • Archaeological Background
  • Mesolithic and Neolithic
  • Bronze Age
  • Iron Age
  • Romano-British
  • Anglo-Saxon
  • Project Background and Research Aims
  • Methods of Excavation and Recording
• Chapter 2: Prehistoric Evidence by Matt Leivers and Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Evidence for early prehistoric activity by Matt Leivers
  • Neolithic features
  • Beaker and Early Bronze Age features
  • Barrow 1
  • Barrow 2
  • Barrow 3
  • Barrow 4
  • Barrow 5
  • Barrow 6
  • Discussion
  • Middle Bronze Age
  • Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age features
  • Northern Enclosure
  • Central Enclosure
  • Southern Enclosure
  • Mortuary Feature 2018 by Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Late Bronze Age: 11th–9th century cal BC
  • Burial Pit 3666
  • Mortuary and other deposits external to Burial Pit 3666 .52
  • Late Early Iron Age: 5th century cal BC
  • Pits
  • Mortuary deposits
  • Middle Iron Age: 4th–3rd century cal BC
  • Pits
  • Mortuary deposits
  • Late Iron Age/Romano-British period (including features external to Mortuary Feature 2018)
  • Natural features
• Chapter 3: Chronology and the Radiocarbon Dating Programme by Peter Marshall, Alistair J. Barclay, Alex Bayliss, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Gordon Cook, Pieter M. Grootes, John Meadows, and Johannes van der Plicht
  • Introduction
  • Objectives
  • Sample selection
  • Radiocarbon laboratory methods
  • Results
  • Calibration
  • Stable isotopes
  • Methodological approach
  • Later prehistoric site chronology
  • Samples and sequence
  • Burial Pit 3666 and ‘satellite’ deposits
  • Single graves and human bone deposits
  • Midden Pit 2028
  • Northern Enclosure
  • Central Enclosure
  • Southern Enclosure
  • Human skull from pit 2834
  • Pit 3455
  • Late Bronze Age pottery
  • Modelling and interpretation
  • Mortuary Feature 2018
  • Late Bronze Age enclosures and Midden Pit 2028
  • Ceramic sequence and chronology
  • Forms and decoration
  • Discussion
  • Fabrics
  • Site chronology
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 4: Human Bone and Mortuary Deposits by Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Taphonomy and ancient modification
  • Demographic data
  • Minimum number of individuals
  • Late Bronze Age
  • Early Iron Age
  • Middle Iron Age
  • Late Iron Age–Romano-British
  • Age and sex
  • Metric and non-metric data
  • Skeletal indices
  • Pathology
  • Dental disease
  • Trauma
  • Joint disease
  • Infection
  • Miscellaneous lesions
  • Health status overview
  • Isotopic investigation of residential mobility and diet by Andrew Millard
  • Principles
  • Materials
  • Methods
  • Sample preparation
  • O-isotope analysis
  • Sr-isotope analysis
  • C-, and N-isotope analysis
  • Statistical analysis
  • Results and discussion
  • Individual migrations
  • Conclusions
• Chapter 5: Prehistoric Finds and Environmental Evidence
  • Prehistoric pottery by Matt Leivers
  • Methods
  • Condition
  • Fabrics
  • Early and Middle Neolithic
  • Beaker and Early Bronze Age
  • Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age
  • Manufacture, technological attributes and surface treatments
  • Form
  • Decoration
  • Function and use
  • Absolute dating and feature group assemblages
  • Midden Pit 2028
  • Other feature group assemblages
  • Discussion
  • Fired clay by Matt Leivers
  • Flint by Matt Leivers and Phil Harding
  • Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic flint
  • Early Bronze Age flint
  • Central features
  • Context (2888) group 215 by Phil Harding
  • Ditches
  • Redeposited material
  • Discussion
  • Late Bronze Age flint
  • Raw material
  • Technology
  • Major feature groups
  • Discussion
  • Animal bone by Jessica M. Grimm and L. Higbee
  • Methods
  • Animal bone from Mortuary Feature 2018
  • Late Bronze Age: 11th–9th century cal BC
  • Early Iron Age: 5th century cal BC
  • Middle Iron Age: 4th–3rd century cal BC
  • Late Iron Age/Romano-British
  • Animal bone from other prehistoric features
  • Beaker and Early Bronze Age
  • Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age
  • Animal keeping in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age
  • Ritual versus economic behaviours
  • Bronze Age metalwork by Lorraine Mepham with Jörn Schuster
  • A probable lead alloy weight from Burial Pit 3666 by Jörn Schuster
  • Slag by Phil Andrews
  • Analysis and metallography of ingots and metalworking waste by J. Peter Northover
  • Sampling and analysis
  • Compositions
  • Microstructures
  • Discussion
  • Worked bone by Jessica M. Grimm with Jörn Schuster
  • Raw material
  • Tool types
  • Distribution
  • Discussion
  • Worked stone by Kevin Hayward and Matt Leivers with Lorraine Mepham
  • Discussion
  • Environmental evidence charred and mineralised plant remains by Chris J. Stevens
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Wood charcoal by Catherine Barnett
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Interpretation
  • Pollen analysis of Midden Pit 2028 in the Northern Enclosure by Rob Scaife
  • Method
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Soil Micromorphology of a buried soil in Midden Pit 2028 by Richard I. Macphail
  • Samples and methods
  • Results
  • Discussion and conclusions
• Chapter 6: Discussion and Concluding Remarks by Stuart Needham, Jacqueline I. McKinley and Matt Leivers
  • The site and its use in the Late Bronze, Early and Middle Iron Age by Matt Leivers
  • Mortuary rites by Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Thanet: fulcrum of the north-western seaways by Stuart Needham
  • The influence of the Early Bronze Age barrow group
  • The Late Bronze Age ritual system at Cliffs End
  • The Late Bronze Age mortuary deposits and disarticulted human bones
  • Resumption of mortuary activity in the Iron Age
  • Continuity and recurrence
  • The inter-regional connections implied by the human remains
  • Late Bronze Age
  • Early Iron Age
  • Middle Iron Age
  • The Cliffs End enclave in the 1st millennium BC
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 7: The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery and Settlement by Jacqueline I. McKinley and Nick Stoodley
  • Cemetery features by Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Grave catalogue
  • Human remains
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Taphonomy
  • Demographic data
  • Pathology
  • Isotopic analysis by Andrew Millard
  • Grave goods and cemetery discussion by Nick Stoodley with contributions by Talla Hopper and Jörn Schuster
  • Grave goods
  • Metalwork
  • Weapons
  • Personal equipment
  • Beads by Talla Hopper
  • Wooden cup/bowl by Jörn Schuster
  • Cemetery discussion by Nick Stoodley
  • Chronology of the cemetery and graves
  • The wider burial rite
  • Social identity
  • Cemetery layout
  • Non-cemetery features by Jacqueline I. McKinley
  • Pits
  • Ditches
  • Cliffs End in the wider landscape by Nick Stoodley
  • Conclusion
  • Non-cemetery finds
  • Metalwork from pits in the southern part of the site by Jörn Schuster
  • Post-Roman pottery by Lorraine Mepham
  • The assemblage
  • Discussion
  • Worked stone by Kevin Hayward and Matt Leivers
  • Textile by Sharon Penton and Jacqui Watson
  • Animal bone assemblage by Jessica M. Grimm and L. Higbee
  • Taphonomy
  • Results
  • Worked bone by Jessica M. Grimm
  • Environmental evidence
  • Charred plant remains by Chris J. Stevens
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Wood charcoal by Catherine Barnett
  • Results
  • Interpretation
  • Marine shell by Sarah F. Wyles
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Concluding remarks by Jacqueline I. McKinley and Jörn Schuster
• Epilogue
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Midden Pit 2028 layer and context number concordance
  • Appendix 2: Prehistoric pottery fabric descriptions by Matt Leivers
• Bibliography
• Index