Bronze Age discoveries at Cheeseman's Green development site
A Bronze Age pottery
vessel found at Cheesemans Green, Ashford
by James Scott
Archaeologists have uncovered artefacts dating back 12,000 years
during excavation work at the proposed development site at
Cheeseman’s Green.
A fascinating picture is emerging about how Ashford’s
agricultural landscape looked from the late Bronze Age through to
the early years of Roman occupation.
Some interesting and unusual finds have been unearthed in the
excavations at Cheeseman’s Green, a site given planning permission
by Ashford Borough Council for up to 1,180 new homes, where the
first phase has just started.
Crest Strategic Projects commissioned the large-scale
archaeological investigations at Cheeseman’s Green.
The search has been managed by consultants CgMs, together
with Kent County Council Heritage and Wessex Archaeology.
Archeologists excavated
an Iron Age rubbish pit
It began in June and has revealed human activity on the site
stretching back 12,000 years, including the flint tools of ancient
hunter gatherer communities, and Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age
activity sites, settlements and farmsteads.
Evidence has been revealed of constant change in past
settlements.
What are now empty fields were once homes to thriving
communities.
The finds are similar to those previously recorded at Park Farm,
Brisley Farm, Waterbrook Farm, the Orbital Park, and most recently
in trial trenching at Chilmington Green.
The information gained from all of these sites is of regional
importance as it suggests that south Ashford was very densely
settled from the late Bronze Age to the early Roman period – with a
density of rural settlement similar to that seen in the 17th
century AD.
A Bronze Age pottery vessel found at
Cheesemans Green, Ashford
It also implies that the agricultural landscape was completely
re-organised under the Romans, with the deliberate destruction of
settlements and monuments and the laying out of large rectilinear
field systems possibly as part of a vast ‘Imperial’ estate.
Cllr Gerry Clarkson, Deputy leader of Ashford Borough Council,
said: “These important archaeological investigations provide us
with a link to Ashford’s past that will be of interest not only to
the local community but have a broader, regional importance.
"It is fascinating to learn about the discoveries and I hope
that these will be of real interest to everyone interested in the
history of the borough as well as adding to the national store of
knowledge.“
The entire development site will eventually be examined and the
findings published.
04/10/12
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