Monument record MDO18053 - Maiden Castle Road grave 02202

A 4th century AD grave oriented N-S, within the Maiden Castle Road Roman cemetery. It contained two inhumations, the disturbed remains of a ?female aged 25-35 and the extended inhumation of a male aged 35-40, with the head to the south and accompanied by a copper alloy finger ring.The burial was in a wooden coffin with coffin nails and large stone slabs had been positioned on a shallow ledge around the top of the grave cut. Bones of an immature chicken and a leaf-shaped iron object were recovered from the grave fill.

Found during the excavations to the north of Maiden Castle Road undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 in advance of the Dorchester By-pass construction. 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.

Rectangular grave cut [02202] was aligned N-S within the northern part of the cemetery, to the south of grave [02217]. It contained two inhumations, the disturbed remains of a ?female aged 25-35 and a secondary extended inhumation of a male aged 35-40, with head to south. A copper alloy finger ring was found associated with the secondary burial and skin impressions on the ring indicate it was worn at time of burial. Bones of an immature chicken and a leaf-shaped iron object were found in the grave fill. The presence of coffin nails attest to the former presence of a wooden coffin and the burial was covered by several large slabs (originally all one piece?) with had rested on a shallow ledge around the top of the grave.

It was suggested by the excavators that the two burials may represent interments from the same family group.

No dating evidence was recovered from this grave, which has been dated to the 4th century AD on the basis of its association with other burials of this date within the cemetery.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 983909 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

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, 56-70 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 8:15PM