Monument record MDO18018 - Late Iron Age settlement at Flagstones, Dorchester

A Late Iron Age settlement comprising the remains of a ditched enclosure, seven bell-shaped storage pits, both inside and outside the enclosure and three bowl-shaped pits. Significant quantities of Late Iron Age settlement debris were recovered from the enclosure ditch and some of the pits. Three pits also contained inhumation burials. The enclosure ditch and several pits were cut by a later ditch.

Found during excavation at Flagstones by Wessex Archaeology in 1987-1988 in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass. 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.

Late Iron Age settlement activity was concentrated in the southern end of the excavation. It comprised a ditched field system, a ditched rectangular enclosure partially within the southern part of the excavation with a number of storage pits inside and outside the enclosure. There was also a number of burials both in pits and in graves in the same area. The full extent of the settlement is not known. It certainly continued further to the east under the garden of Max Gate (2).

The pottery recovered from this settlement was almost exclusively 'Durotrigian' Black-Burnished ware jars of 1st century BC/AD date, and were probably discarded cooking vessels. Other finds included worked chalk, fired clay, worked bone objects, an iron gouge, shale and stone.

Snail evidence from pit [00074] indicated this pit was dug in a grassy downland environment. Charred plant remains were found in a number of pits, including wheat and barley and a range of weeds including some arable weeds and rather more grassland weeds. Sheep/goat remains predominate over cattle and horse bones, but pig was poorly represented. Dog bones and a relatively large quantity of frog/toad bones were recovered.

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.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 27-48 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<2> Hardy, T, 1890, Some Romano-British relics found at Max Gate, Dorchester'. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 11, 78-81 (Article in serial). SDO9383.

<2> Hardy, Thomas, 1966, Some Romano-British relics found at Max Gate, Dorchester, 78-81 (Monograph). SDO20833.

Record last edited

Jan 14 2015 4:15PM