Dear all,
Please join the team next Thursday 15th December for mince pies and wall chat, from 12-2pm, upstairs in the visitor centre at Shorne Woods.
All welcome, we will look back over 2022 and plan ahead for 2023…perhaps even trade our best wall theories…?
Talking of walls, please find attached an image of the new wall/structure near Randall. Note the depth of colluvium over the remains, almost ½ a metre!
Our last site day will be Friday the 16th, but a walk is being planned over the Christmas break.
Keep warm!
One of our SWAG members, Frank Beresford, has recently published a piece on lithics in the Bromley area. Click through to Acacademia.co.uk to read the article –
Abstract as follows:
Many Palaeolithic sites, first discovered in the late 19th century or early 20th century, lacked adequate publication and coherent curation of the finds which were frequently exchanged or sold and dispersed. This study focuses on a number of minor sites that have suffered in this way. The study area is in the parish of West Wickham, Kent, now part of the London Borough of Bromley. Three men discovered most of the lithic material found in the study area in the years from 1878 to 1898. All three gave partial accounts of their finds in variouscontexts during the period 1882 to 1908 and many of these accounts have been located for this study. Parts oftheir collections have been identified in the collections of two museums. The aim of this study is to investigate towhat extent it is now possible to construct a useful account of the Palaeolithic of the Upper RavensbourneValley.
Full reference: Beresford, F.R. 2014. A preliminary note on the Palaeolithic sites in the Upper Ravensbournearea, Bromley, Kent. Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 35: 54Ð58.
We had a very successful Festival of Archaeology weekend. There was over 180 visitors to the site and a dig for the Young Archaeologists Club.
Huge thank you to everyone who supported the event, but a special shout out to Pauline for organisation and management of a great weekend. A Chatham shop token turned up along with the obligatory Mesolithic flintwork…so we have a prehistoric beginning and Victorian end to activity on the new site!
Here is a mesolithic flint blade found by YAC Jack on the weekend. It adds to our understanding of the prehistory of the Park for the period 10,000 BCE to 4,000 BCE. Shorne Woods area was obviously a good place to be, with high views over the Thames Valley and lots of flint to knap.
We are very proud to announce the winner of the Marsh Community Archaeology Award for 2022 is Andrew Mayfield! Yes, our very own leader. Congratulations Andrew.
Details about the Marsh Award can be found here:
An article on Andrew’s win was published by the KCC Media Hub and can be found here – https://kccmediahub.net/kent-community-archaeologist-receives-marsh-award/
