EDO198 - Mampitts Lane, Shaftesbury; excavation 1950

In 1950 Mr N Teulon-Porter partly excavated a second pit near one reported in 1949. The second pit was situated between three and four feet (measuring edge to edge) north west of the first pit, and appeared to be about eight feet in diameter and 1ft 6ins deep. It had irregular sides, apparently trodden down, and, like the first pit, a central hearth. A number of worked flint points and a few sherds of pottery of indeterminate Neolithic/Bronze Age date were found on the floor of the pit. No objects were found in the hearth debris, but Mr Teulon-Porter noted about a hundred small round lumps of mixed charcoal and ash bound together with some adhesive material, possibly fat. The lower filling of the pit contained more sherds of similar pottery, and it was suggested that this layer may represent spoil from the pit perhaps disposed around it as a wind break and later pushed back into the hole. The upper filling of the pit contained more Neolithic/Bronze Age pottery and some of Early Iron Age date.