Monument record MDO18075 - Flagstones central ring-ditch burial

A grave was cut into the centre of the Flagstones Neolithic enclosure in the early 2nd millennium BC. It was also located in the centre of the Flagstones central ring ditch. The grave contained a crouched young adult male sealed beneath a large sarsen stone. A copper alloy rivet was found in the grave fill. A radiocarbon date of 2130-1710 cal BC at 2 sigma (HAR-9159) was obtained from the burial.

Found during the excavations at Flagstones undertaken 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.

A grave lay at the centre of the Neolithic segmented enclosure. It also lay in the centre of the central ring ditch and it is likely it is associated with the ring-ditch, probably originally forming part of a round barrow, now ploughed out.

It comprised an ovoid pit [00430] 3m by 2.6m across with a ledge 0.6m wide and 0.2m deep on the south and a steep-sided near-circular pit 0.9m deep to the north. On the base of the pit was a badly preserved skeleton of a young adult male, perhaps originally crouched. The skeleton was sealed beneath primary silts and rubble. A large irregular unworked sarsen had been placed 0.25m above the skeleton. Above the stone were successive chalk rubble fills, much disturbed by root action. A radiocarbon date of the early 2nd millennium BC (2130-1710 cal BC: HAR-9159) was obtained from the skeleton.

A copper alloy rivet was found in the upper fill of the grave pit, which also contained 66 pieces of worked flint of Bronze Age character and included a Portland Chert oblique arrowhead. There was a range of intrusive material including a post-medieval copper alloy lace tag, an unidentified iron object, one sherd of Late Iron Age pottery, four post-medieval sherds and some ceramic building material from this pit. Three residual sherds of Neolithic bowl were also recovered. 16 pieces of animal bone were recovered from this pit, including cattle, pig and sheep/goat.

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, 27-49 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Feb 8 2006 3:38AM