Archaeological Collections at Dartford Borough Museum

The museum houses an excellent collection of archaeological material representing both major and minor archaeological sites in the Dartford area. Iron Age and Bronze Age objects are also to be found in the collections. The museum retains important collections of Palaeolithic material from sites in and around Swanscombe and Dartford. Pride of place in the museum collections goes to the Darenth Bowl, an exquisite Saxon glass bowl (c. A.D. 450) of Christian significance, found in a Saxon grave in the grounds of Darenth Park Hospital. Roman material is well represented in the collections; most of the Roman finds originate from local villa and settlement sites. The archaeological material in the collections enables us to build up a very detailed picture of daily life in the Dartford area spanning some 250,000 years of human history.