More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
In the coming years the Swanscombe Peninsula could well be home to one of the biggest theme parks in the world, nearby you'll find the ever-popular Bluewater, and if you look down the River Thames you'll spot the Dartford Crossing looming ominously in the distance.
But this most modern place is also where the oldest human remains in Britain were found.
The Swanscombe Skull, belonging to a young Neanderthal woman, was unearthed in what is now the area's Heritage Park in 1935 and dates back 400,000 years.
Since she roamed the marshes of north Kent numerous generations of modern humans have made the county their home and left behind some intriguing artefacts for 21st century detectorists to discover.
The trinkets dug up by these enthusiasts would not have been touched by humans for thousands of years and offer a fascinating insight into ancient Kent.
From Neolithic monuments to Roman Villas and prehistoric gold cups Kent has proved rich picking for treasure hunters over the years.
Kent ranked 6th in the UK for finds between 2012 and 2019, with 426 items of treasure declared. It's an impressive total but still less than half of Norfolk's 917.
If you're into stats, highly-populous Kent's 26.8 finds per 100,000 people sees it rank 19th, while the Isle of Wight's 129.3 figure sees it place top of that particular table.
And as we previously reported with major developments now obliged to liaise with archaeologists when renovating areas of potential interest, there’s every chance with every new road or housing estate we may unearth more hugely significant finds.
Indeed, since that piece was written in June 2018 several important discoveries have been made:
Coin depicting murdering emperor
This stunning gold coin, one of only 24 discovered, went to auction last year with a guide price of £100,000.
It dates to the 3rd century and bears the head of Roman emperor Allectus — a finance minister who murdered his way to the top.
He assassinated his predecessor Carausius and seized power in AD 293 but was killed in battled three years later.
The coin, which has an image of the god Apollo with two captives on its other side, would have only been legal tender for his spell in control.
It was discovered near a freshly ploughed field in Deal, which has long been presumed to be the place were the invading Romans, led by Julius Caesar, first landed in Britain, in 55BC.
400-year-old old hawking ring
A 400-year-old silver hawking ring which could be worth more than £18,000 was dug up in September 2019 in Eastchurch, Sheppey.
Hawking was a popular pastime for the aristocracy during the medieval period but this ring dates from the Stuart era.
Read more: 250 years since one of most significant archaeological finds made in Kent village
It belonged to Philip Herbert (1584 -1650), well known for his love of hawking, and a friend of King James 1 of England.
In 1605 the King made him the first Earl of Montgomery.
He was the Lord Lieutenant of Kent in 1624, although his country seat was Wilton House near Salisbury in Wiltshire.
The land where the ring was found was once the parkland of Shurland House, a former 16th century grade ll-listed Tudor manor house.
The ring is inscribed with the words E of Montgomery (Earl of Montgomery) and is decorated with an heraldic shield bearing the emblem of the Montgomery coat of arms - a wyvern (a type of dragon) below a crown clutching in its jaws a left hand. It is believed the ring was of Welsh design.
Gold and garnet pendant
A medieval gold and garnet pendant cross was unearthed in a field in Elham during a hail storm in February 2018.
The incomplete cross is believed to have been cut up before it entered the ground and thought to date to the first half of the 7th century - not long after St Augustine first arrived in Kent in AD 597.
St Augustine was sent to Britain by the Pope to convert the then king of Kent, Ethelbert, to Christianity and away from Anglo-Saxon paganism. He would become the first Archbishop of Canterbury and his remains are buried in the city.
The pendant - which has been digitally reimagined by Lloyd Bosworth, an expert in 3D modelling of archaeological discoveries, to demonstrate what it would have looked like and how it may have formed part of a necklace - was given a four-figure value by experts.
Read more: The never-ending quest of the Kent metal detectorist
Treasures in the deep
Archaeologists filming a TV show for Sky uncovered a haul of artefacts and treasure items as they scoured the riverbed in Canterbury city centre.
From an elaborate silver ring, to a huge jagged bomb fragment and tobacco pipe, the River Hunters team had “outstanding success” in finding secrets banished to the depths of the Stour.
Magic Roman amulet
As finds go perhaps the most peculiar to be discovered in the county in the last few years was this golden amulet.
It was found on land in Faversham belonging to a Russian Princess by a Sheppey plumber. But that's not the strangest part of this tale.
The item, known as a Bracteate, dates to the 2nd century and depicts an 'evil eye' being attacked by a scorpion, a dog, an elephant, and a bird.
An inquest heard he treasure weighs 1.43g is 18.3mm in diameter and 1.2mm thick and would have been viewed as "magic"
Gold bishop's ring
The next object dates back to an intriguing part of the Isle of Sheppey's history.
The 26 gram solid gold bishop's ring includes an engraving of a king holding a sword, a seal with a bull or a ram and a bishop holding a baby.
Minster Abbey was founded by Queen Sexburgha in the 7th century.
The ring could have belonged to its bishop or could be from the 16th century around the time Henry VIII honeymooned on Sheppey with Anne Boleyn or may date to the reign of Elizabeth I.
Whoever it belonged to similar examples have been valued at £60,000 and it's been described as "probably the most important item ever found on the Island".
The skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon woman
Workers at the site of a new £65 million science and technology block at Christ Church University in Canterbury unwittingly unearthed the remains of a very important woman.
Buried around 1,400 years ago she is believed to have been in her 20s, and was found wearing a necklace of amber and glass beads, a belt fastened with a copper alloy buckle, a copper alloy bracelet, and was equipped with an iron knife.
Alongside her was a silver, garnet-inlaid, Kentish disc brooch.
Read more: Man strikes gold three times
Experts say that together, the items found in the grave suggest the woman was buried between AD 580-600.
They believe she would have been a contemporary, and likely acquaintance, of the Kentish King Ethelbert and his Frankish Queen Bertha, whose modern statues can be seen nearby at Lady Wootton’s Green.
Religious Roman pendant
A clash of cultures was responsible for the next find, discovered by keen treasure hunter Owen Baldock in a field in Maidstone in August 2018.
The gold pendant is inlaid with a Roman intaglio as its jewel but what made it stand out was the figures which it portrayed.
The Goddess Minerva and the God Mars are a rare combination for the Roman Period, with the pendant itself being made by Anglo-Saxons in the late 6th or 7th century CE.
It provides an invaluable insight into the meeting of two cultures and Mr Baldock and the landowner were generous enough to gift it to Maidstone Museum and waive their reward.
