Monument record MDO18013 - Flagstones Neolithic enclosure, Dorchester

A probable circular enclosure consisting of a single circuit of unevenly spaced pits constructed in the late 4th millennium cal. BC. There were two larger gaps in the circuit to the north and west. Four engravings were found on the sides of four segments and three primary burials (one cremation, the remainder inhumation) were placed in the base of segments, two beneath large stone slabs and the other close to another large stone. Another burial was cut into the primary fills of another segment. There is some suggestion for an earlier stone phase to this monument with a number of pits on the edge of the ditch segments and a large number of massive stones or deliberately broken fragments of stone in the fills of the segments.

A probably circular enclosure partly revealed by excavation at Flagstones by Wessex Archaeology in 1987-1988 in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass and further parts by geophysical survey in 1992. The excavated area included slightly over half of the enclosure circuit and a further small part of the northeastern side was revealed by geophysical survey. The full circuit has not been determined.The following description is abstracted from the final published report on the site (1). The numbers in square brackets refer to context numbers quoted in the report.

The enclosure is about 100m in diameter and is defined by a single discontinuous circuit of ovoid pits [00399], some of them intercutting. The segments were unevenly spaced with many intercutting pits in the northwest and southwest parts of the excavated circuit and with causeways generally 0.5-2.5m wide between pits elsewhere. There were two wider gaps in the circuit to the north and to the west, perhaps denoting entrances. A total of 39 segments were exposed by the excavation and these were generally between 1.3-3m wide, 2-5.75m long and 0.75-1.4m deep with steep, almost vertical, sides and flat bottoms. The two pits (segments 35 & 36) each side of the wide gap in the north side of the circuit were very shallow with bowl-shaped profiles. The location of four further pits was found by geophysical survey in the area behind Max Gate House. Shallow engravings were found in four of the pits in the north, northwest, south and southwest parts of the circuit (segments 4, 12, 28, 34). These engravings comprised series of curvilinear lines, criss-cross patterns or more complex shapes (2). In common with many other features at Flagstones, there was a large amount of intrusive material found in this monument, largely a result of considerable root and animal disturbance.

Primary burials were placed on the base of three segments. The cremated remains of an adult beneath a large sarsen slab were found in segment 16 in the west. Close by in segment 19 were the remains of a child inhumation beneath a large slab of calcareous sandstone. In the west terminal of segment 30 in the north was the crushed skeleton on a 6-12 month old child and the femur of a 3-5 year old. These were not under a slab but a large sarsen fragment was found nearby. Three radiocarbon dates were obtained from human bone and antler from the base of the pits gave a late 4th millenium BC date.

Most of the segments appear to have filled rapidly and naturally with vacuous chalk rubble containing few finds. These included some earlier Neolithic bowl sherds, worked flint, 5 antler picks, a chalk ball, and a number of fragments of sarsen, limestone and sandstone with fresh breaks and some with signs of burning. The right femur of an adult was also recovered from the primary fill. Animal bone was mainly red deer with some cattle and dog bone. A pit was cut into the primary fills of segment 14 for the burial of a 10-12 year old child inhumation. A late 3rd millenium BC radiocarbon date was obtained from this skeleton.

Above the primary fills was a stabilisation layer followed by weathering of the sides and further silting. A few finds were found in the stabilisation layer including 6 sherds of Neolithic bowl, one sherd of Late Iron Age/Roman pot, 19 pieces of worked flint, a small quantity of animal bone. A grape pip was found in the stabilisation layer in segment 38. This produced a radiocarbon date of AD1640-1950. Finds from the silting layers above included Bronze Age flint (concentrated in the northwest part of the enclosure), 17 abraded sherds of Neolithic bowl, seven sherds of Late Iron Age pottery, four medieval sherds and small quantities of ceramic building material, fired clay, slag, and stone. 23 fragments of animal bone included cattle, horse,and red deer. The crouched inhumation of an adult male was found in segment 2 cut through the stabilisation layer. Fragments of human bone were also found in the silting layers of segment 28.

The enclosure segments were finally filled with an upper layer of brown soil which was cut by Late Iron Age features. Finds were more productive from this layer than the earlier layers. They included a large quantity of Bronze Age flint, 42 sherds of Neolithic bowl, one Bronze Age sherd, 167 Late Iron Age sherds and 27 medieval and post-medieval sherds. Other finds included ceramic building material, shale waste, a fragment of copper alloy sheet and a coin of Constantine II. Fragments of human bone were also recovered and 127 fragments of animal bone, principally cattle.

Mollusc data indicates a transition from grazed grassland at the time of construction to a combination of tillage and pasture within an increasingly open landscape.

There is some suggestion of an earlier monument preceding the segmented enclosure. A number of small pits were found which had been cut by segments of the enclosure. These may represent stoneholes from an earlier monumental stone setting. There was a notable concentration of large stones and stone fragments in the enclosure segments which distinguishes this monument from other monuments nearby. And another large sarsen slab was found in the garden of Max Gate immediately to the west in 1891 (3). The stones may have been broken up or reused for burial when the segmented enclosure was constructed. The date of this postulated monument is not clear but stratigraphically, the indications are that it was not much earlier in date. <1-4>

SY 704 899 (FCE) A rapid examination of air photography shows the excavation of an arc of pits or an interrupted ditch, possibly forming an enclosure of Prehistoric or Roman date (possibly a Neolithic causewayed enclosure). <5>

(SY 704 899) The site was included in RCHME's national project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic. In view of the extensive excavation which has taken place on the site no detailed photographic transcription or fieldwork was carried out. However, site visits were undertaken and the Monarch record was enhanced. <6>

Site of a Neolithic enclosure, approximately half of which was excavated 1987-8. The earliest features were a series of pits which pre-dated the enclosure. They contained material of mid 4th millennium BC date, including pottery, flints and animal bone. Some other pits which lay close to the line of the later enclosure, but again preceded it, have been suggested to represent the remnants of a stone setting. The enclosure, circular in shape, comprises a single circuit of unevenly spaced pits and was constructed in the late 4th millennium BC. The chalk walls of some of the pit/ditch segments featured engraved designs, probably cut with flint. An adult cremation and two child inhumations were also placed on the bottom of ditch sections, each beneath a slab of sandstone or sarsen. Finds of pottery, flint and animal bone were few in quantity. The flint appears to be of later Neolithic character. In the Early Bronze Age, a grave was cut in the centre of the enclosed area, comprising a ring ditch and mound associated with a crouched inhumation. The mound seems to have subsequently acted as a focus for much flint-knapping activity. Other features of neolithic or Bronze Age date in the interior comprise mainly pits. There appears to have been no significant activity at the site from the Middle Bronze Age until the Late Iron Age, when a field system was laid out in the area, associated with nearby settlement. The Neolithic enclosure itself is anomalous in a number of respects when compared with causewayed enclosures generally, notably in terms of its shape (an almost perfect circle), the nature of the ditch deposits (a general lack of the sort of placed deposits which characterise many sites), and particularly its later date. Comparisons have been made instead with the first phase of Stonehenge. <7>

<1> Hardy, T, 1890, Some Romano-British relics found at Max Gate, Dorchester'. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 11, 80 (Article in serial). SDO9383.

<1> Hardy, Thomas, 1966, Some Romano-British relics found at Max Gate, Dorchester, 80 (Monograph). SDO20833.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

<2> Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note, 79-89 (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<3> Woodward, P J, 1988, Pictures of the Neolithic: discoveries from Flagstones House excavations, Dorchester, Dorset, 266-274 (Article in serial). SDO9382.

<4> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 27-48 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<5> Miller, Andrew, 1993, RCHME: AP Primary Recording Project, 15-FEB-1993 (Unpublished document). SWX1708.

<5.1> Boyden, J R, JRB 3421: 18 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20331.

<5.2> Boyden, J R, JRB 3425: 05-15 (Aerial Photograph). SDO20330.

<6> RCHME: Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic (Monograph). SWX1665.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 983955 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 4:18PM