Monument record MDO18472 - Poundbury Post-Roman grave 1188

Post-Roman Grave 1188 was discovered during the 1966-79 excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester. It was found in an irregular grave cut into the fill of the ditch of the post-Roman enclosure PR13. It contained the tightly contracted inhumation of a thirteen-year-old individual placed on the left side with head to the north. It was one of three burials from the site that can be securely ascribed to the post-Roman period. It was later than Enclosure PR13, which was assigned to phase 2 of the post-Roman settlement. This settlement was characterised by a series of small buildings surrounded by small enclosures, which may represent individual cells for a religious (possibly female) community established on the site of the late Roman cemetery.

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 excavation reports and archive (1)(2)(3). Further refinement of the post-Roman settlement sequence has been undertaken by Christopher Sparey Green since the initial publication of the site and this has been taken into account in the following description (4) (5).

Post Roman grave 1188 was one of three burials that can be securely ascribed to the post-Roman period at Poundbury (2). The irregular grave was dug 0.45m into the ditch fills on the northern side of post-Roman enclosure PR13. It cut into the primary ditch fill of the enclosure ditch, but was possibly sealed by a later re-cut of the same enclosure ditch, also dated to the post-Roman period (1). The grave contained the tightly contracted inhumation of a thirteen-year-old individual placed on their left side with the head to the north. No trace of a coffin was discovered and no grave goods were found.

Post-Roman enclosure PR13 was originally included in phase VB in the published monograph (1). A subsequent review of the post-Roman evidence has placed it in the post-Roman phase 2 settlement (3). Phase 2 of the settlement is distinguished by the appearance of small terraced or sunken-floored buildings of post and wattle construction, each surrounded by irregular ditched enclosures (PR5-10 and PR13) (3). Christopher Sparey-Green has recently suggested that this settlement phase of sunken dwellings within small enclosures represent individual cells for a religious (possibly female) community established on the site of the late Roman cemetery (4). Grave 1188 must also belong to the phase 2 activity on stratigraphic grounds.

<1> Sparey Green, C, 1987, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1982. Volume 1: The Settlements, 89 (Monograph). SDO9630.

<2> Farwell, D E and Molleson, T I, 1993, Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset 1966-1980. Volume II: The Cemeteries, 83 (Monograph). SDO9538.

<3> Sparey Green, C, 1966-1979, Poundbury, Grove Trading Estate, Dorchester (Excavation archive). SDO10096.

<4> Sparey Green, C J, 1996, Poundbury, Dorset: settlement and economy in the Late and post-Roman Dorchester (Article in monograph). SDO10040.

<5> Sparey Green, C J, Living amongst the dead: From Roman cemetery to post-Roman monastic settlement at Poundbury (Article in monograph). SDO10041.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:31PM