Site Code. ABBEYFIELDS12Site identification

and addressAbbey Fields, Faversham

County, district

and / or boroughKent

O.S. grid ref. TR022617Geology. Clay Head and Alluvium over Thanet SandsProject number. SNUFFLER1207Fieldwork type. GeophysicsSite type.Date of fieldwork. July 2012Sponsor/client. Kent Archaeological Field SchoolProject manager. David StaveleyProject

supervisor.Period summary Roman

Project summary.

(100 word max)Geophysics at the site of a Roman building at Abbey Fields, Faversham

Geophysics at Abbey Fields Roman Siteby David Staveley

Introduction

Abbey Fields, Faversham is the site of a set of Roman buildings, near what would have been a tidal inlet off of Faversham Creek. It is currently under excavation by the Kent Archaeological Field School, and Paul Wilkinson asked for a geophysics survey to find further areas of archaeological interest within the field.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Paul Wilkinson of Kent Archaeological Field School for making this survey possible, Jonny from Digitise This for the GNSS work and Brian Powell for helping out with the survey.

Methodology

The magnetometer survey was undertaken using a Bartington GRAD601-2 fluxgate gradiometer, walking east-west along lines spaced 1 metre apart and recording 4 readings per metre in 40 metre grids. The data was processed using Snuffler geophysics software, with despike, destripe and interpolation (Y only) filters applied.

The earth resistance survey was undertaken using a TR Systems earth resistance meter, recording 1 reading per metre in 20 metre grids. The data was processed using Snuffler geophysics software, with despike and interpolation filters applied.

Positioning

20 metre grids were set out and recorded in OSGB36/OSTN02 by Digitise This using a Leica GNSS network RTK rover. The coordinates of relevant points on the interpretation are given below.

Description North EastM1 161754.63 602222.74M2 161734.90 602300.27M3 161618.61 602270.67M4 161638.34 602193.14R1 161710.93 602232.25R2 161706.00 602251.64R3 161686.62 602246.70R4 161691.55 602227.32

Magnetometry Results

Resistivity Results

Interpretation

The lines and text in red are the areas marked on KAFS plans. The survey areas are bounded by dotted black lines, with relevant positioning points in blue, M for magnetometry and R for earth resistance. For magnetometry, modern features are shown as purple, and possible archaeological features are shown in green. For earth resistance, high resistance features are shown in orange.

The magnetometry results are unfortunately very poor, with a large amount of metal junk strewn around, particularly on the northern side of the survey. The cause of this can be seen on the 2003 Google Earth imagery, with a large amount of rubbish visible across the northern part of the field. The broad spread of this metal junk is shown as a light purple area, with particularly strong readings shown in dark purple. Of particular note are the strong linear features running north-south and east-west. The north-south feature makes a turn where it intersects the east-west feature, so it seems they are linked. The cause of this feature is most likely an electrical cable, as there is a pole at the northern end of the north-south linear feature, which has a cable leading into the ground. This itself produces a large magnetic response.

Of possible archaeological interest are two weak features in the south-west part of the survey. They look to be ditch features.

The resistivity results show a roughly 6 metres wide and curving weak high resistance feature, shown in light orange. Where the cable and a strong magnetic feature intersect this, the readings are stronger, shown in dark purple. This is most likely due to material from the high resistance feature lower down being brought further towards the surface when the cable and other feature were excavated in modern times. It is not clear whether the feature is archaeological or geological, but its progression further south may coincide with the eastern possibly archaeological feature in the magnetometry results.