CAT mag 2022

Books and publications

The development of an industrial site from prehistory to present Archaeological work at Sittingbourne Paper Mill, 2011–12 By Jon Rady MCIfA, Damien Boden and Peter Seary An archaeological evaluation followed by open area excavations, was undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust on part of the former Sittingbourne Paper Mill site just north-west of Sittingbourne town centre. The occasional papers are available to download: www.canterburytrust. co.uk/occasional-papers

Bringing order to CAT’s paperwork archive After finishing an extensive project on the Finds Archive, work continued on the paperwork archive – nearly fifty years of CAT sites! The material currently held at Wincheap is now fully labelled, recorded and reorganised to be completely searchable for anyone carrying out research into the sites that CAT has worked on, from 1975 to the current day. From small evaluations in small, neat folders to nearly a hundred files from long-running urban excavations, the files should be easy to find and clearly labelled to modern standards.

Farming, Everyday Life and Ritual By James Holman, Robert Masefield, Jonathan Rady and Jake Weekes Sixty centuries ago, someone placed a large broken bowl in a pit at Thanet Earth. Handfuls of wheat from the homeland followed, and fragments of saddle quern for grinding it, and more pottery, and flint tools, and ancestral bones... These were some of the first farmers in the British Isles, pioneers of a revolution that would affect everyday life for ever, and ritual too. Farming, Everyday Life and Ritual continues this story as it develops over millennia at Thanet Earth, the previously unknown story of lives lost to history, rediscovered through their archaeological remains, the evidence unearthed during excavations in the late 2000s by Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

The Lower Lines By James Holman a nd Peter Kendall The Lower Lines formed a key part of the defences of Chatham Dockyard during the early part of the nineteenth century. While they were never used in combat, they became the focus for siege training during the later part of the century, and for the development of innovative new military technologies by the Royal Engineers. Latterly they were repurposed during the Second World War as part of the land defences for the Nore Command.

The archaeological work undertaken between 2005 and 2009 focussed on two sites, at Mid Kent College and the Black Lion Leisure Centre. This work allowed study of the defences, but also provided an opportunity to investigate how the Royal Engineers were using the area. They constructed elaborate siege exercises, involving many hundreds of men while also experimenting with new technologies such as electric searchlights. The archaeology together with contemporary records allow an intimate picture of what was taking place on the site throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries.

16

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker