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Hundreds if not thousands of years later in the Earlier Neolithic one of Thanet's early farming families moved onto the surrounding land. They would have cleared for cultivation a little of what was probably a fairly heavily wooded area. Perhaps they may have utilised a clearing which had been created many years beforehand by some Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

Our early farmers would have cut down trees using a flint axe, possibly a fine polished axe and one that was a prized personal possession for one if not all of the family. They would also have built themselves a rectangular wooden dwelling and perhaps created a little hedged or fenced enclosure in which to keep some livestock (maybe a few cattle or sheep).

Our Neolithic ancestors would have knapped flints to create tools for the normal round of domestic tasks; leaving some of the waste material on the ground where it may have lain virtually undisturbed for anything up to two thousand years. Perhaps they or one of their descendants had later been forced to re-work a once highly valued polished axe.

The site at Beauforts now became the focus of important activity as it was selected to be the appropriate place for her grave. Then it was probably a mile or so inland from the sea on the headland that would later be called North Foreland.

Her grave was neatly dug and a wooden structure which acted as her coffin was placed inside. Within the coffin our ancestors placed the lady's body, laying her on her left-hand side and in the crouched position that ancient tradition demanded. At her feet they laid a finely crafted pottery Beaker. They may also have added other tributes made of more perishable, organic matter such as flowers or carved wooden objects and vessels around her.

As our ancestors back-filled the grave they took care not to deposit on top of the coffin any of the chalk spoil they had excavated from the grave, making sure that only clean soils would be used to cover her. As they replaced these soils they would probably have noticed that amongst it lay flints recognisable as old cores and waste-flakes discarded by previous generations and a testament to the presence of the ancestors on this land.

The barrow was then complete and was left in peace, but it was not left alone. Land immediately to the east formed the site for another, slightly larger barrow. The main occupant of this other barrow was also buried with a special piece of pottery - a miniature version of an Early Bronze Age Collared Urn.


		The Beaker Period 2500 - 1700 BC
Return to Beauforts main Display Display Contents Beauforts, North Foreland Avenue Link - The story of the land at Beauforts Scales in 0.5 metre divisions		Beauforts, North Foreland Avenue Link - The story of the land at Beauforts



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		Mesolithic hunter-gatherers working a territory which included land which is now lost to coastal erosion would almost certainly have been passing through the area of what would later become North Foreland Avenue. They could well have paused or even camped nearby, knapping flints for tool-making and leaving some flakes on the ground in the process. Between six and ten thousand years of subsequent coastal erosion would ultimately result in a small group of their tools being deposited onto the beach at Stone Bay. Hundreds if not thousands of years later in the Earlier Neolithic one of Thanet's early farming families moved onto the surrounding land. They would have cleared for cultivation a little of what was probably a fairly heavily wooded area. Perhaps they may have utilised a clearing which had been created many years beforehand by some Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Our early farmers would have cut down trees using a flint axe, possibly a fine polished axe and one that was a prized personal possession for one if not all of the family. They would also have built themselves a rectangular wooden dwelling and perhaps created a little hedged or fenced enclosure in which to keep some livestock (maybe a few cattle or sheep). Our Neolithic ancestors would have knapped flints to create tools for the normal round of domestic tasks; leaving some of the waste material on the ground where it may have lain virtually undisturbed for anything up to two thousand years. Perhaps they or one of their descendants had later been forced to re-work a once highly valued polished axe.
		Many years and many generations later (in the Beaker Period) the death of a woman who was probably an important member of her family and possibly her wider community too necessitated the building of a suitable burial monument to be her final resting place. The site at Beauforts now became the focus of important activity as it was selected to be the appropriate place for her grave. Then it was probably a mile or so inland from the sea on the headland that would later be called North Foreland. Her grave was neatly dug and a wooden structure which acted as her coffin was placed inside. Within the coffin our ancestors placed the lady's body, laying her on her left-hand side and in the crouched position that ancient tradition demanded. At her feet they laid a finely crafted pottery Beaker. They may also have added other tributes made of more perishable, organic matter such as flowers or carved wooden objects and vessels around her. As our ancestors back-filled the grave they took care not to deposit on top of the coffin any of the chalk spoil they had excavated from the grave, making sure that only clean soils would be used to cover her. As they replaced these soils they would probably have noticed that amongst it lay flints recognisable as old cores and waste-flakes discarded by previous generations and a testament to the presence of the ancestors on this land.
		Around the grave the people (likely members of her family) then dug a circular ditch; the excavated chalk probably being used to create a gleaming white central mound which would cover and mark their loved one's resting place at the centre of the monument. The barrow was then complete and was left in peace, but it was not left alone. Land immediately to the east formed the site for another, slightly larger barrow. The main occupant of this other barrow was also buried with a special piece of pottery - a miniature version of an Early Bronze Age Collared Urn.
		In time the Beaker barrow became part of a wider ceremonial landscape of Bronze Age burial monuments as this area of North Foreland (like other similar chalk-ridge locations elsewhere on Thanet) became the focus for the construction of roundbarrows. They would safely house their dead for approximately four thousand years, but would ultimately become ploughed away and forgotten before being rediscovered in our time as the latest inhabitants of the North Foreland area made their homes there.
		As the Beaker barrow ditch gradually began to in-fill with soil, old flint-work began to find it's way into the ditch-hollow; this included a fine Neolithic polished axe, once a likely prized possession for its original owner. These flints may have been eroding out of the up-cast soil which was originally disturbed by the building of the barrow, or nearby ploughing or land-clearance may have been releasing these items from the topsoil where they were once discarded many years before. As the barrow itself started to become a historic feature in the landscape, people of the subsequent Middle Bronze Age began to make their presence known. They were possibly searching the barrow ditches and mounds for any easily available flint and having found some, left a little knapping waste in their wake. They may also have been using the mounds of some of the roundbarrows in the North Foreland area for depositing the cremated remains of their loved ones. Evidence of their pottery would later be found amongst some of the other roundbarrow monuments on top of North Foreland Hill.
		Over a thousand years after the Beaker barrow was first built a large and long-lasting Iron Age settlement began to take shape along the crest of the North Foreland hilltop just to the west. They settled in an area featuring several earlier roundbarrows and perhaps used the ditches of these roundbarrows for conveniently discarding some of their rubbish (in the form of broken pottery and animal bones). They also used the larger roundbarrow sited opposite the Beaker barrow to inter at least one new burial, digging it just within the bounds of the barrow ditch and siting it on top of two other earlier burials. Our Iron Age ancestors may not have disturbed the Beaker barrow to any significant degree however and this was probably now lying as a low, grassy mound in fields just outside the boundary of their settlement.
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		The text is the responsibility of the author; the photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.
		Paul Hart Version 1 - Posted 16.12.06 Top
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