EDO6248 - Windmill Riding Stables, Portland; evaluation 2009

One test trench and eleven test pits were excavated on the site by a mechanical excavator equiped with a 0.50m wide toothless bucket. Where necessary surfaces were hand cleaned for examination and recording. The excavations established the sequence of deposits across the site. The lithic assemblage from the site, amounting to 388 pieces of worked stone, are described in detail in a worked stone report. The assemblage was dated to post-Mesolithic and probably post-earlier Neolithic periods, based on absence of evidence of blade production. It was concluded that the assemblage was not chronologically diagnostic and could all fit comfortably within a later Neolithic to Earlier Bronze Age date range. Some pottery (466g) was recovered from the site and are described as 'small, often abraded and featureless' ; these items have been identified as representative of prehistoric, Roman and Medieval/post Medieval periods.