Monument record MDO18430 - Poundbury Middle Iron Age Structure IA6

Discovered during excavations at Poundbury, Middle Iron Age structure IA6 was one of two ring-slot round houses found in the southwest corner of the Middle Iron Age ditched enclosure, which formed the earliest phase of settlement on a terrace occupied until the 2nd century AD. Round house IA6 was extensively damaged by recent activity but three elements could be identified; an irregular terrace with part of a ring gully for a round house, a group of post-holes, some cutting the terrace, and a pit group, of which some were later than the terrace and the house.

Found during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1979 during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published reports (1) (2).

Middle Iron Age Structure IA6 was identified in the southwestern part of the Middle Iron Age ditched enclosure. It was heavily disturbed by later activity and comprised an irregular terrace with foundation slots for a hut, a group of post-holes, some cutting the terrace, and a pit group, of which some were later than the terrace and the hut. It was constructed over an earlier large rectangular pit [E670] 2.29m deep, containing MIA pottery.

The terrace [E769] survived to a depth of 0.15m and was filled with chalky brown loam. The southern and western sides were occupied by a series of small scoops and hollows up to 0.30m deep and filled with light brown chalky soil devoid of finds other than a cattle skull in one of them. Whether these were part of the hut terrace or a group of working terraces around it was uncertain. Within the terrace, two curving slots [E772] and [E679], 0.13m – 0.20m deep and filled with brown soil, devoid of finds, survived from the walls, defining a structure between 4.5m and 6m in diameter. The fill of the terrace and the slots was cut by five of a series of nine post-holes, none certainly related to the hut structure. They varied from 0.1m-0.2m deep, filled with sterile grey brown chalky soil, the deeper examples packed with flint.

The Middle Iron Age round house IA6 lay adjacent to another round house (IA7), which together form the earliest phase of a settlement that continued into the 2nd century AD. They were the only pair of houses that did not impinge on the silted ditch of the Middle Iron Age enclosure and, therefore, could have been contemporary with the final phases of use of the enclosure.

<1> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements (Monograph). SDO9630.

<2> Sparey Green, C, 1966-1979, Poundbury, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10096.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:28PM