Saltwood Tunnel (North of), ARC SLT 98C (Cemetery Area)

Site discovered during course of evaluation by Canterbury Archaeological Trust prior to construction of the CTRL high speed rail link. A prehistoric ring ditch was found to have been re-used for the site of an Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery of 63 graves accompanied by a wide range of grave goods dating to the 6th and 7th centuries. The cemetery was focussed on a high status burial with rich grave goods in the centre of the ring. Another similar grave lay within a contemporary penannular ditch adjoining this. The pennanular ditch cut an earlier storage pit and contained traces of later Anglo-Saxon activity.