Portable Antiquities Scheme / Kent County Council

Boughton Malherbe Bronze Age Hoard: Archaeological Site Report Boughton Malherbe, Maidstone, Kent TQ8847149700

Jennifer Jackson January 2012

Contents
1. Introduction 2. Site Description 3. Methodology 4. Results 5. Discussion 6. Acknowledgements 7. References Figures 1. The finders discovery 2. HER print out of area 3. Site Location 4. Plan 1; Finders cut through Hoard Fill (005) 5. Plan 2; Cut of Hoard Pit [006] 6. Section 1: North East facing Profile of [006] 7. Section 2: South West facing Trench Section 8. Photo of Finders excavation 9. Photo of Finders excavation cutting through Hoard pit fill 10. Photo showing remaining piece of the hoard in situ 11. Photo showing cut from Hoards deposition 12. Image and catalogue of the Hoard 2011 T464 13. Geophysical Survey Results

1. Introduction A Large Late Bronze Age Hoard was found at TQ8847149700 by two metal detectorists on the 6th August 2011. The hoard consists of 352 objects including axes, blade and spear head fragments as well as 7 complete bun ingot (Figure 12). The hoard is going through the Treasure process at the British Museum where a report has been written and a Treasure inquest has been held (Treasure number; 2011 T464). It is hoped that the hoard will be acquired by Maidstone Museum sometime in 2012.

The finders, Mr Nick Hales and Mr Wayne Coomber found the hoard while metal detecting. Mr Hales recounted that he dug down about 12 inches and found a large circular ingot acting as a lid. All of the finds where then found under this lid, tightly packed into a circular hole. Mr Hales also noted that the hole was lined with the remaining 6 bun ingots. Unfortunately few photographs were taken during the initial excavation; figure 1 was taken on the finders phone.

Figure 1: The finders discovery

2. Site Description The site is located near Bought Place, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. The Bronze Age Hoard was found at National Grid reference TQ8847149700. The site is currently arable land which had been harvested at the time of the discovery.

Archaeological background
A Historic Environment Record (HER) search of 500m around the site reveals one site of note. This was the findspot of 2 polished axes of Neolithic and Bronze Age data in addition to a collection of barbed and tanged leaf-shaped arrowheads and scrapers found on surface of Riddings Farm, Lenham, by F. Weeks Esq in 1931. This collection was presented to Maidstone Museum (Acc. No. 30/1932). No concentrations were noted at the time but the implements were found scattered over the whole farm

An inspection of aerial photographs shows some geological features within the field, but nothing of archaeological interest.
Figure 2: HER Print out of area

Just outside of the 500m area one find has been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, KENT-755127. This was a Mesolithic flint arrow head, c 8000 to 4000 BC that was recorded in 2003.

3. Methodology The location of the excavation was guided by the finder who had marked the position of the find with a stake. The backfill from the finders excavation (context 001) was first removed and sieved in order to ensure the entire hoard had been recovered. Once the backfill was removed a roughly 2x2 meter trench was opened by hand; the top soil being initially striped off, exposing the finders hole cut into the subsoil. A thin spread of the original hoard pit fill was excavated, revealing the cut for the hoard which was recorded.

The trench and the spoil were searched periodically by metal detectors to maximise the recovery of finds. A Dumpy level was used to take levels. The trenches were located after excavation by a total station, provided by Wessex Archaeology.

The trenches were recorded according to techniques outlined in the Archaeological Manual (MoLAS, 1994).

A magnetometer survey of the site was carried out two weeks after the excavation. This was done over a grid of nine 20m squares. The results can be seen in figure 13.

4. Results The modern plough soil had a thickness of approx 0.24m and was loose mid brown sandy loam. Under this was a layer of orange-brown sandy silt subsoil with frequent inclusions of large angular stones; this had a thickness of approx 0.09m. The natural was yellow-orange sandy clay with regular stone outcrops. Two small fragments of copper alloy object were recovered from the finders

backfill. These were reunited with the hoard and are included in Treasure Report 2011 T464. The finders excavation was found to have cut through though the topsoil, subsoil and the majority of the hoard fill leaving a thin layer of the hoard fill at the base and edges; approximately 0.05-0.08m thick. One small copper alloy object was found to be sill in situ within this fill (figure 10); this object was also reunited with the hoard and is included in Treasure Report 2011 T464. This fill was removed revealing an irregularly shaped circular cut of a pit, the base of which was approximately 0.42m beneath the modern surface. natural layer. The pit was cut into the

5. Discussion From remains of the hoard fill it appears that the hoard was deposited in a sub circular pit, approximately 0.8m in diameter. This pit was cut into the natural but it was not possible to ascertain where it was cut from because of the finders intervention and plough damage across the site. Nor was it possible to gather any evidence as to whether the hoard had been deposited in one event or over a period of time.

The geophysical survey results were affected by operator error and it is hoped they can be repeated in the future. From what was gathered however there is a suggestion of an oval anomaly and possibly some high temperature activity in the area immediately next to the site of the hoard. There is also another circle and some possible ditches visible in the survey area. These can be seen in figure 13. This raises the possibility that the hoard isnt an isolated deposit but may be in association with more activity on the site.

6. Acknowledgements Thank you to the landowners Mr and Mrs Clark for making the site available for excavation, and the finders Mr Nick Hales and Wayne Coomber for their participation and reporting of the hoard. Thanks also go Andrew Mayfield, Ben Croxford, Matt Butler and Karen Dunford for their hard work during the excavation. Kindest thanks also go to Wessex Archaeology who surveyed in the trench free of charge. 7. References Kent Historic Environment Record Museum of London, 1994 Archaeological Site Manual 3rd edition

8. Figures: Figure 3: Site Location (Ordinance Survey, Crown Copyright)

Figure 4:

Figure 5:

Figure 6:

Figure 7:

Figure 8: Photo showing cut from finders excavation of the hoard after the backfill had been removed. Facing north east

Figure 9 Photo showing cut from finders excavation of the hoard cut [002] through subsoil, facing north east.

Figure 10: Photo showing remaining piece of the hoard in situ, small find number 3.

Figure 11: Photo showing cut from the hoards deposition (006), facing north east.

Figure 12: 2011 T464, The Boughton Malherbe Hoard

Figure 13: Geophysical Survey Results.