Monument record MDO18252 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Infant burial 249

An infant burial, in the northeast corner of the southern room of later Roman building 1609, was found in Trench 3, during the 1989 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. This burial was probably associated with this building.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1989 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2) (3) (4). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (4).

Infant burial 249 was found in Trench 3, in the northeast corner of the southern room of late Roman structure 1609. This burial had been placed on a roughly rectangular limestone slab over a pottery vessel buried in the floor of Structure 1609. The skeleton was probably that of a new-born child, in a crouched position on its left side with the head to the west. The skeleton was poorly preserved. It was sealed by a late Roman occupation deposit [160].

The location of this burial suggests that it may have been deliberately buried in Structure 1609, at some time during the life of this building

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 69 SE 386 (Index). SDO9937.

<1> Davies, S M and Farwell, D, 1989, Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester: Interim report on Stage 1, 25th May-3rd July and Stage 2, 25th July-12th September 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9408.

<2> Adam, N J, Butterworth, C A, Davies, S M, and Farwell, D E, 1992, Excavations at Wessex Court , Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO9409.

<3> Davies, S M and Farwell, D E, 1989, 'Charles Street, Dorchester, Wessex Court Development', Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO9414.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM