Monument record MDO18325 - Conygar Hill; Neolithic Pit Ring 52100

A small pit-ring about 15m in diameter comprising a regular circular arrangement of pits with an internal ring of post holes was found during the construction of the Dorchester By-pass in 1987 and excavated by Wessex Archaeology. The pits were oval and flat-bottomed and most were filled with primary chalk rubble and secondary silts. Only a small quantity of worked flint and animal bone was recovered from this monument. It has been dated on the basis of its similarity to another pit-ring [52118] found 225m to the west which was probably constructed in the later Neolithic.

Found during topsoil stripping for the Dorchester By-pass and subsequently excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 1987 in the area to the north of Conygar Hill (1) (2)). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (3).

Pit Ring [52100] was found on more level ground below the steeper north-facing slopes of Conygar Hill. It consisted of a circle of eight regularly-spaced pits with an internal circle of eight post holes. The external diameter was about 15m and the internal diameter about 10.5m. The pits were oval in plan with sloping sides and flattish bases, generally about 0.5m deep. One pit on the east side of the circle had a post socket cut into the centre of the base. The internal post ring had regularly spaced post holes placed opposite the causeways in the outer pit ring. No clear evidence for a bank was recovered.

Five of the pits had a lower chalk rubble fill and an upper silty loam fill, the remainder of the pits had a mixed soil fill. A small quantity of worked flint and animal bone was recovered from the primary fills and the secondary fills had a range of material including Neolithic, Roman and medieval pottery within them. No dating evidence was recovered. The palaeoenvironmental evidence suggests that this pit ring was constructed in a well-established long ungrazed grassland. This pit ring has been dated to the later Neolithic on the basis of its similarity to the broadly similar pit ring [52118] which was found 225m to the west and which produced a small quantity of Grooved Ware pottery.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 52-53 (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.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1431045 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 2 2023 7:14AM