Editing Coldrum Long Barrow (section)

===Archaeological excavation===

The Coldrum Stones have been [[excavation (archaeology)|excavated]] on multiple occasions.{{sfn|Philp|Dutto|2005|p=1}} On 16 April 1910, the amateur archaeologist F. J. Bennett began excavation at the site, having previously uncovered Neolithic stone tools from Addington Long Barrow. He soon discovered human bones "under only a few inches of chalky soil" at Coldrum.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=81}} He returned to the site for further excavation in August 1910, this time with his niece and her husband, both of whom were dentists with an interest in [[craniology]]; on that day they discovered pieces of a human skull, which they were able to largely reconstruct.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=81}} A few days later he returned to excavate on the north-west corner of the chamber with the architect E. W. Filkins; that day, they found a second skull, further bones, a flint tool, and pieces of pottery.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=81}} This pottery was later identified as being Anglo-Saxon in date.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=3}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote="Some young man was selected, one of a family perhaps set apart, and had a very merry time during his year of god-ship, at the end of this, he was sacrificed at the dolmen [chamber], being led up the ascent, and his body was dismembered and the limbs and blood scattered over the fields to ensure fertility. His wife or wives may have been killed, too, and any child born during that year also, and their bones gathered together and buried within the dolmen."|source=— Bennett's interpretation of human sacrifice at the Coldrums, 1913.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=84}} }}

Later that month, George Payne and F. W. Reader met with Bennett to discuss his finds.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=81}} With the aid of two other interested amateur archaeologists, Mr Boyd and Miss Harker, both from [[West Malling|Malling]], excavation resumed in early September.{{sfn|Bennett|1913|pp=81–82}} In 2009, the archaeologists Martin Smith and Megan Brickley noted that Bennett's excavations had taken heed of Pitt-Rivers's advice that excavations should be recorded in full. They noted that Bennett had provided "clear plan and section drawings, photographs of the monument and careful attempts to consider site formation processes."{{sfn|Smith|Brickley|2009|p=34}} Suggesting that the monument was constructed on agricultural land, in his published report Bennett cited the ideas of anthropologist [[James Frazer]] in ''[[The Golden Bough]]'' in proposing that the Coldrum Stones "may at one time have been dedicated, though not necessarily initially so, to the worship of the corn god and of agriculture."{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=83}} He believed that the human remains found at the site were the victims of [[human sacrifice]] killed in fertility rites;{{sfn|Bennett|1913|p=84}} conversely, Evans later stated that "we have no means of knowing" whether human sacrifice had taken place at the site.{{sfn|Evans|1946|p=40}}

In September 1922, Filkins again excavated at Coldrum, this time with the aid of [[Gravesend]] resident Charles Gilbert.{{sfn|Filkins|1924|p=265}} Their project was financed through grants provided by the British Association and the Society of Antiquaries,{{sfn|Filkins|1928|p=357}} with Filkins noting that at the time of its commencement, "a miniature jungle" had grown up around the site which had to be cleared.{{sfn|Filkins|1928|p=357}} Excavation continued sporadically until at least 1926.{{sfn|Filkins|1928|p=357}} Human remains were discovered, and placed into the possession of Sir Arthur Keith of the [[Royal College of Surgeons]].{{sfn|Filkins|1928|p=357}} It is also recorded that at some point between 1939 and 1945 human remains that had been found at the site were reburied in the churchyard at Trottiscliffe.{{sfn|Grinsell|1986|pp=34–35}} This excavation revealed all the existing sarsens surrounding the monument, several which had previously been buried.{{sfn|Ashbee|1998|p=16}} The stones of the chamber were shored up with [[concrete]] foundations where Filkins deemed it necessary.{{sfn|Filkins|1928|p=357}} Although Filkins' excavation was comprehensive, it ignored stone holes, packing stones, and their relationship to the mound.{{sfn|Ashbee|1998|p=16}} In 1998, Ashbee noted that while from "a present-day perspective, it is possible to see shortcomings [in Filkins' excavation{{nbsp}}...] in terms of the general standards of the early part of this century, there is much to commend."{{sfn|Ashbee|1998|p=35}}