Monument record MDO18277 - Land West of Poundbury Farm; Bronze Age pits

Three scattered Bronze Age pits were found during an evaluation and subsequent excavation of land to the west of Poundbury Farm by Wessex Archaeology in 2000 and 2001. Two of the pits were large and contained sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery and worked flint. The third pit was much smaller and shallower and contained no finds. These pits probably represent scattered activity within the Bronze Age field system

Three scattered Bronze Age pits were found during an evaluation and subsequent excavation of land to the west of Poundbury Farm by Wessex Archaeology in 2000 and 2001 (1) (2) (3).

Pit 403 was found in Evaluation Trench 4 and was only 0.4m in diameter and o.15m deep. No finds were recovered but charcoal flecks were present in the fill (2).

Pit 803 was found in Evaluation Trench 8 and subsequently exposed again in Excavation Trench 2. This pit was 2.6m in diameter and 1m deep with straight, steeply sloping sides and a concave base. A small deposit of burnt stone was found on the base of the pit, which was filled with three layers of silty clay soil containing worked flint and numerous sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery, including rim sherds of post-Deverel Rimbury type.

Pit 1203 was found in Evaluation Trench 12 and subsequently exposed again in Excavation Trench 3. It was about 1.2m in diameter and 0.9m deep, with straight steeply sloping sides and an irregular base. It was filled with three different layers of silty clay. Sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery and worked flint were recovered from this feature.

These pits appear to be isolated features and probably represent either a dispersed settlement or, more probably, activity within the Bronze Age field system. A single residual sherd from a Middle Bronze Age bucket urn was recovered from one of the pits, hinting at earlier activity in this area also.

<1> Gardiner, J, 2003, Dorchester, Land to the West and South-West of Poundbury Farm, 2000-2001. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society, 154-156 (Article in serial). SDO9530.

<2> Seager-Smith, R, 2000, Land to the West of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Evaluation. (Unpublished document). SDO9529.

<3> Dagless, N, 2001, Land to the West of Poundbury Farm, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Excavation. (Unpublished document). SDO9532.

Record last edited

Mar 23 2012 11:42AM