EDO7820 - Dorset Upper Frome and Sydling Valleys AIM Project

An aerial investigation and mapping project undertaken by Cornwall Archaeological Unit and funded by Historic England, carried out between December 2019 and October 2021. The project was carried out to Historic England's AI&M methods and standards using all available aerial photographs and Environment Agency lidar imagery. The project comprised an archaeological survey of 100 sq kms of west Dorset lying wholly within the nationally important Dorset AONB. Significant enhancement to existing baseline data was achieved through the mapping, interpretation and recording of 975 archaeological sites. On average the project recorded 9.75 sites for each km2 and of the 975 monuments recorded, 825 (84.6%) were for new sites not previously recorded in the county or national databases. Sites from periods ranging from the Neolithic to the twentieth century were recorded. A total of 58 sites of Neolithic or Bronze Age date were recorded, predominantly ring ditches and round mounds interpreted as Bronze Age round barrows, with two possible Neolithic oval barrows. Of these, half (29) were new sites identified for the first time during the mapping project. Ninety-seven sites of later prehistoric (Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age or Iron Age/Romano-British) date were mapped and recorded during the project, of which 44 were new sites and a further 27 were only recorded in the NRHE. Four additional sites were dated specifically to the Roman period. New sites predominantly included field systems, trackways, linear earthworks and settlement enclosures.