Early Bronze Age Urn

To the north-east of Otford Station, on the east side of the Darent Valley is a re-entrant in the North Downs known as the Coombe; it is a steep-sided dry valley. No prehistoric sites are known within the Coombe, although flint implements have been found. A possible round barrow is situated on the top of Otford Mount, one mile south of the burial site.

During mechanical levelling for a tennis court in the southward sloping garden o the rear of no. 46 Greenhill Road (N.G.R. TQ53556005), a cavity was noticed in the side of the excavation to which the attention of the householder Mrs. R. Pitcairn-Knowles was drawn. Excavation by the Otford and District Historical Society’s Archaeological Group established that this cavity contained a complete vessel which proved to contain cremated bone fragments uncontaminated with earth filling the vessel. From the conical heap of fragments, it is possible that the bones had been cremated, then deliberately crushed and placed in a container, possibly a bag of cloth or leather, which has perished completely. Traces were found of a cylindrical hole some 2 ft. in diameter with a flat bottom on which the inverted vessel had rested. The hole had apparently been back-filled with soil. The bottom of the hole was 1 ft. 11 in. below the estimated present laid surface; no trace of any mound was observed in the rather disturbed ground near the burial. A discoloration in the sloping chalk face of the excavation, 10 ft. south-south-west of the urn, was investigated and produced three small sherds of similar reddish pottery black in fracture. A search of the spoil forming the built-up section of the tennis court did not reveal any further sherds. The vessel is 1 ft. 2 in. in height with a maximum diameter of 1 ft. 7 in. The surface is reddish-brown in colour, black and rather crumbly in fracture, and the collar, which is somewhat blackened, has traces of a naturally formed chalky encrustation. The vessel was submitted to Dr I. H. Longworth, of the British Museum, who confirmed it to be a coiled vessel of the Middle Bronze Age period, a collared urn with undecorated neck in the south-eastern tradition. The collar is decorated with hurdle and diagonal patterns made by two-stranded cords of different thicknesses, which were impressed on the vessel during its leather-hard stage.

A unique feature of this urn is the intentional use of rows of finger­ nail impression to supplement the cord design. These nail-marks occur for 5 in. on the rim of the vessel, and for 5 in. on the face of the collar. A further star-shaped mark on the collar also appears to have been made by means of a finger-nail. No other vessels in this tradition are known to bear such decoration. Dr Longworth considered the vessel fairly late in the period, probably nearer 1000 than 1400 BC. The urn was probably made locally as a storage vessel and is likely to have been fired in an inverted position which would account for the blackening of the collar. The sherds found nearby Dr Longworth also assigned it to the Bronze Age, but of rather later date.
The bones, varying in colour from white to blue-grey, due to incomplete burning, were submitted for examination to Dr Zivanovic, of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

His report was:
• Weight of bones present: 1,950 gm.
• Maximum length of fragments: 95 mm.
• Details: Male adult, age 25-35 (?).
• No evidence of disease. Bone fragments mineralised post mortuary
• Teeth: Of one individual only present— deformed and reduced in size due to burning.
(Account by J. A. Pyke and C. P. Ward. Published in Arch Cant VOLUME XCI. 1975. pp 185-187)

The discovery of the urn and various investigations have been well documented.  Relevant documents include:

• P-250120-01 miscellaneous documents
• P-250120-01 Pyke JA (1981) A radiocarbon date for the Bronze Age site at Greenhill, Otford
• P-250120-01 Pyke JA (1979) Greenhill Bronze Age Site Arch Cant
• P-250120-01 Pyke JA (1979) Greenhill Bronze Age Site Arch Cant proof copy
• P-250120-01 photographs