Monument record MDO18265 - Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester; Infant burial 2464

A disturbed infant burial was found in the uppermost surviving fill of Ditch 2472 in Trench 6, during the 1990 excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester. It was of a new-born child oriented NE-SW. It lay about one metre SW of another infant burial (2480) within the same ditch. It is dated to the 1st/2nd century on pottery dating evidence from the ditch.

Found during the excavations carried out by Wessex Archaeology in 1990 in the proposed Wessex Court retail development area between Charles Street, Acland Road, and South Walks, Dorchester (1) (2) (3). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (3).

Infant burial 2464 was found in the highest surviving fill of ditch [2472]. It was a disturbed and fragmentary burial of a new-born child. The bones were still partially articulated and the burial appeared to have been oriented NE-SW.

This burial was one of two found in Ditch [2472]. The other burial [2480] lay one metre to the SW on the base of the ditch. These burials can be dated to the 1st-2nd century AD on finds dating evidence from the ditch.

National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431041 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

<1> Adam, N J, and Butterworth, C A, 1993, Excavations at Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester, Dorset, 1990. Volume 1: Text & Appendix I (Unpublished document). SDO191.

<2> Adam, N J, 1990, 'Excavations at Charles Street (Wessex Court), Dorchester, Interim Note on Stage 3, October-December 1990' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 115-7 (Article in serial). SDO9415.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1989-1990, Wessex Court, Charles Street, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO9878.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:28PM