Monument record MDO18014 - Flagstones central ring-ditch, Dorchester

A grave was cut into the centre of the Neolithic enclosure in the early 2nd millennium BC and sealed beneath a large sarsen stone. The grave was sealed beneath a mound constructed of chalk quarried from a surrounding ring ditch. The barrow was subsequently remodelled with the addition of material from groups of quarry pits around its circumference.

A ring-ditch and associated quarry pits found in the centre of the Neolithic enclosure was partly revealed by excavation at Flagstones by Wessex Archaeology in 1987-1988 in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass. 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.

Ring-ditch [00165] lay in the centre of the Neolithic enclosure and was only partly within the excavated area. It appeared to be set out around a central burial [00430]. The ring-ditch measured about 28m in diameter and was 0.75m deep with near vertical sides and a flat base. The ditch was filled with primary silts, chalk rubble and secondary soils above. 27 pieces of worked flint were recovered from the primary fills and some animal bone, possibly wolf. Ten sherds of Bronze Age grog-tempered pot were recovered from the secondary fills, which also contained a very large quantity of worked Bronze Age flint. The chalk surface within the ring ditch survived 160mm higher than the external chalk level. This has been interpreted as a protected surface formerly covered by a barrow mound.

Four clusters of intersecting pits were spaced around the outer edge of the ring-ditch. These were subcircular to ovoid in plan, bowl-shaped profile and up to 2m across and 0.75m deep. Two pits in the west cluster cut the chalk rubble fills of the ring-ditch. They were generally filled with chalk rubble with secondary fills above similar to those from the ring-ditch. Fairly large quantities of Bronze Age flint were found in these pit clusters, but was particularly concentrated in the north cluster. Three sherds of Bronze Age grog tempered pottery were recovered. These pits are thought to have provided additional material for recovering or re-emphasising the barrow mound, perhaps indicating the application of a fresh covering of white chalk. The date of this activity is not known.

Molluscan evidence from the ring-ditch suggests that the immediate vicinity was arable during the period of silting up of the ring-ditch, within a generally very open landscape.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 78 NW 67 (Index). SDO9937.

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

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.

Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 27-49 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Sep 30 2011 2:29AM