Monument record MDO18292 - Middle Farm; Bronze Age burial 03421

A tightly contracted adult male inhumation was found buried within the partially silted up Middle Bronze Age boundary ditch during the 1987 Middle Farm excavations by Wessex Archaeology in advance of construction of the Dorchester By-pass. Three other burials were found in a similar position. This burial was radiocarbon dated to 12690-1260 cal. BC.

Found during the 1987 excavations at Middle Farm undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass(1) (2) (3). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (3).

Burial [03421] was a tightly contracted inhumation of an adult male on the right side with head to west. No grave cut was identified and this burial appears to have been placed in the partially silted up Middle Bronze Age boundary ditch [03420].Three other burials were found in a similar stratigraphic position in this ditch. A radiocarbon date of 1690-1260 cal. BC was obtained from this burial.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 68 NE 196 (Index). SDO9937.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 73-75 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<2> Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note, 79-89 (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

Record last edited

Oct 4 2006 5:36AM