Monument record MDO18088 - Flagstones Late Iron Age pits

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.

A total of eleven pits were found scattered across the southern half of the excavation area. These were basically of two types; large bell-shaped storage pits (seven examples) and smaller bowl-shaped pits (four examples). Six pits were found within the enclosure ([00018], [00019], [00039], [00045], [00054], [00074]) and the remainder were scattered outside to the west. The bell-shaped pits were between 1.3-2.15 m diameter and 0.64-2.06m deep.

Pit [00018] was was a large bell-shaped storage pit found within the Late Iron Age enclosure. It measured 1.8m in diameter and 1.85m deep filled with large quantities of ash and charcoal and domestic waste including a very large quantity (1117) sherds of 1st century BC/AD pot,and large quantities of animal bone including sheep/goat, dog, cattle, horse, and pig. Three almost complete dog skeletons were found in this pit. Other finds include an iron gouge, a perforated sheep metatarsal,and a perforated chalk slab.

Pit [00019] was a large bell-shaped storage pit found within the enclosure. It appears to have filled up naturally with a combination of collapsed chalk from the sides and topsoil washed in from the surface. It contained a substantial assemblage of 1st century BC/AD pottery. A child burial was found in the upper fills. This pit was cut by Late Iron Age grave [00041].

Pit [00045] was another large bell-shaped storage pit, also within the enclosure. It appears to have filled up naturally with a combination of collapsed chalk from the sides and topsoil washed in from the surface. It contained a substantial assemblage of 1st century BC/AD pottery.

Pit [00300] was a bell-shaped storage pit found outside the enclosure. An adult inhumation had been placed on the base of this pit, which appears to have filled up naturally.

Pit [00302] was a bell-shaped storage pit found outside the enclosure. It contained a large quantity of animal bone, some of which appears to have been deliberately placed. On the base of the pit were three cattle skulls, with a deposit of articulated horse and cattle bones further up the pit and above this further cattle limbs, a horse jaw and a dog skull and mandibles. Some fragments of infant bone were found in the lower fills and a contracted inhumation burial was found in the upper part of the pit. This pit also contained substantial quantities of 1st century BC/AD pottery.

Pit [00305] was a bell-shaped storage pit found outside the enclosure, and which appeared to have filled up naturally. It contained substantial quantities of 1st century BC/AD pottery. A beach pebble hammerstone was found in the lower fills.

Pit [51020] was a bell-shaped storage pit found outside the enclosure, which appeared to have filled up naturally. It contained substantial quantities of 1st century BC/AD pottery.

Pits [00039], [00054] and [00074] were relatively shallow bowl-shaped pits.

The remaining pit [00356] was cut into one of the segments of the neolithic enclosure and contained the butchered and gnawed remains of a cow.

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.

Record last edited

Feb 9 2006 10:37AM