Monument record MDO18094 - Maumbury Rings Roman burial

An adult male inhumation was found in a grave to the west of the north entrance of Maumbury Rings amphitheatre. This burial is probably best considered as part of the adjacent Roman cemetery along the side of the Roman road to Weymouth.

An inhumation burial found just west of the north entrance of the Roman amphitheatre during the excavations directed by H St George Gray in 1913.

The adult male inhumation was found in a chalk-cut grave, 1.4m by 0.4m across and 0.6m deep, just north of the west side of the northern entrance of the Maumbury Rings amphitheatre. The skeleton was aligned almost E-W, was supine with the legs bent and the arms flexed and the head on one side, facing SSW. This grave appears to have cut the edge of another subrectangular feature about 1.1m long to the east. A complete upright jar was found on the north side of this pit, together with a group of iron nails, perhaps from a box. This may have been another grave, but no human remains were recovered. The jar is possibly 2nd century AD in date and is illustrated in the Royal Commission inventory p579 no.40. (DCM Acc no. 1908.29.20)

This burial is probably 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.

Pope, A, 1900, An Ancient British Trackway, 105-110 (Article in serial). SDO9398.

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, 1913, Interim report on the Excavations at Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, 1912, 93-4 (Article in serial). SDO9391.

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 579 (Monograph). SDO150.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:26PM