Settling the Ebbsfleet Valley vol 3

The detailed specialist reports in this volume cover the late Iron Age and Roman human bone and animal bone assemblages recovered during the reported excavations, as well as environmental remains and dating evidence relating to contemporary landscape, subsistence and economy. A single cremation burial and a minimum of 48 inhumation burials were recorded at Springhead, with a single inhumation burial of a neonate from within the Northfleet villa complex. Whole or partial skulls appear to have been deliberately placed and others re-deposited in a variety of features, including a 'ritual shaft'. Over 68,000 fragments of animal bone were recovered, including many complete animal skeletons. At Springhead the assemblages are dominated by sheep/goats but cattle are more important at the Northfleet villa. The environmental evidence for Roman subsistence and economy is presented in reports on charred plant remains, wood charcoal and marine shell. Environmental sequences and remains relating the development of the Roman landscape were also recovered from a range of locations.