Monument record MDO18301 - New Cemetery, Poundbury; Bronze Age boundary ditches

A series of linear ditches aligned NE-SW or NW-SE were found during the evaluation and subsequent excavation on the site of a proposed sports centre and cemetery excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 1997 and 2001. These appear to be part of a Bronze Age field system, though there was very little dating evidence recovered. The majority of the finds were from the northern end of the site. Two excavated ditch terminals had deliberately placed animal bone deposits and a series of stakeholes in the base of the ditch.

A large number of ditches were found in thirteen evaluation trenches and in Excavation Area 2 during the 1997 evaluation and 2000 excavation by Wessex Archaeology on the site of the new cemetery at Poundbury, Dorchester. The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the reports (1) (2).

A number of ditch sections were exposed and excavated, which appear to form part of a system of ditches aligned NE-SW and NW-SE. These ditches were much better preserved in the northern part of the site.

Two, perhaps three, NE-SW ditch alignments were found. The easternmost line comprised ditches exposed in Trenches 22, 34, 35, and Excavation Area 2. The second line comprised ditches exposed in Trenches 19, 26, 25, and 33. A possible negative lynchet found in Trench 12 may also be part of this line. The third line is represented by a single ditch section in Trench 32.

Six ditches were found on a NW-SE alignment. Most of these were found in a single trench only. To the north was a ditch found in Trenches 36, 35 and Excavation Area 2, which terminated at the junction with one of the NE-SW ditches in Area 2. The next ditch to the south was represented by a single section in Trench 33. The next ditch to the south was traced in two Trenches (31 and 32). Trench 29 contained a single ditch section which may be the next to the south. In the southern half of the site a ditch was found in Trench 5 and another in Trench 3.

The ditches were variable in size and shape and were generally much better preserved in the northern part of the site. The largest, best-preserved ditches had a V-profile and measured between 1.2m and 2.1m wide and between 0.6m – 1.2m deep and were filled with a series of soil layers. These ditches were found in Trenches 25, 26, 32, 34, 35, and 36. The remaining ditches were much more variable in size and depth, but generally had a concave or U-shaped profile. They were between 0.6m and 1.2m wide and 0.2m to 0.75m deep. The smaller, shallower ditches were generally in the southern part of the area. The difference in size and shape may be the result of differential erosion and the cleaning out of some ditch sections. Lines of stakeholes have been found in the base of two of the ditches in excavation Area 2. Their function is unclear.

Relatively few finds were recovered from the ditches and these were concentrated in the northern part of the site in Trenches 25, 32, 33, 35, 36 and 37. A significant amount of Bronze Age pottery was recovered from the ditch in Trench 37 and smaller amounts in the upper fills of the ditches in Trenches 35 and 36. Sherds from a small Middle Bronze Age bucket urn with applied bosses below the rim were found in a ditch in Trench 32. Significant quantities of burnt flint were found in Trenches 35 and 36 and there appeared to be deliberately placed deposits of cattle bones, particularly skulls, in the ditch terminals excavated in Area 2. The concentration of finds in this northern part of the site may indicate the presence of settlement activity near by.

The ditches are all probably part of a Bronze Age ditched field system, further traces of which have been found in the surrounding areas on the west side of Dorchester.

<1> Seager-Smith, R, 2001, New Cemetery, Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset: Archaeological Excavation. (Unpublished document). SDO9522.

<2> Grove J and Smith R J C, 1997, Proposed Sports Centre and Cemetery, Poundbury, Dorchester: Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SDO9539.

<3> Gardiner, J, 2003, Dorchester, New Cemetery and Sports Centre, Poundbury. Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 157-159 (Article in serial). SDO9523.

Record last edited

Oct 9 2006 9:32AM