Monument record MDO18093 - Maumbury Rings Roman burial

An adult female flexed inhumation was found in a grave in the north entrance ramp of Maumbury Rings amphitheatre. It was accompanied by a pig jaw. This burial is clearly later than the first phases of the amphitheatre, and perhaps is best considered as part of the adjacent Roman cemetery along the side of the Roman road to Weymouth.

This is one of two inhumation burials found on the northern entrance ramp of the Roman amphitheatre during the excavations directed by H St George Gray in 1910.

Adult female inhumation in an irregular grave aligned N-S, 1.3m long and 0.7m wide, which was cut into the base of the ramp of the Maumbury Rings amphitheatre. The skeleton lay on its left side, flexed at the knees and with the hands almost together. It was accompanied by a pig jaw behind the skull. (1)

This burial is clearly later than the first phases of the amphitheatre, and perhaps is best considered as part of the Roman cemetery along the side of the Roman road to Weymouth, of which further burials have been found just to the north beneath the Police Station.

Gray, H St George, 1908-1913, Maumbury Rings excavation archive (Excavation archive). SDO9419.

Bradley, R, 1976, Maumbury Rings, Dorchester: The Excavations of 1908-1913, 1-97 (Article in serial). SDO9387.

<1> Gray, H St George, 1910, Interim report on the Excavations at Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, 1910, 238-241 (Article in serial). SDO9390.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM