Monument record MDO18326 - Conygar Hill; Neolithic Pit Ring 52118

A small pit-ring about 17m in diameter comprising a near circular arrangement of pits and intercutting segments 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 filled with primary chalk rubble and secondary silts. A small quantity of Grooved Ware pottery was found in the base of one of the pits and provides the only dating evidence and suggests a construction date 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 [52118] was found on more level ground below the steeper north-facing slopes of Conygar Hill. It consisted of five discrete pits and two segments comprising more than one intercutting pit, which formed a near circle about 17m external diameter and 7.5m internal diameter. The pits were oval in plan with steep sides and a flat base. The two segments comprising a series of intercutting pits were placed opposite each other. One of these segments lay internal to two of the oval pits. Two smaller pits were found immediately external to the ring to the south. There was no evidence for an internal or external bank. The pits were filled with primary chalk rubble fills containing a small quantity of worked flint and animal bone (pig, cattle) and one pit produced a small quantity of Grooved Ware pottery. The secondary fills were of silty loam soil and contained a small quantity of worked flint and a bronze coin of Helena. The filling of the segments was different to the pits, the internal segment consisting of chalk rubble and the other having a more mixed fill.

The Grooved Ware pot recovered from the base of one of the pits suggests a date of construction in the mid 3rd millennium BC, but it is not possible to determine whether the pits were all dug at one time or whether it was a more piecemeal construction over a longer period of time. The molluscan evidence suggests that the pits were dug in well-established long, ungrazed grassland.

A second broadly similar pit ring [52100] was found 225m to the east.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 50-53 (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, 1431046 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 2 2023 7:13AM