Monument record MDO18519 - Alington Avenue; Bronze Age Cremation 209

Evidence for a Bronze Age cremation was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue in the centre of the main site. It comprised an unurned burial in the upper fills of the northern section of the Early Bronze Age bipartite ring ditch. The burial was undated and possibly redeposited. It was of a young adult of indefinite sex.

Found during a series of evaluations and excavations conducted by Wessex Archaeology at Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester between 1984 and 1987. The results of the excavations have been published as a Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph; (DNHAS Monograph 15). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report.

Four cremation burials [SF209], [SF326], [SF327] & [SF782] were associated with ditch [2922] the northern section of the EBA bipartite ring ditch in the centre of the main site, and one [SF1030] with the southern ditch. They were all unurned, although some may have been contained within an organic container. The burials were subjected to whole-earth recovery during excavation and subsequently wet sieved to 1mm mesh. The number of identified bones was rather small, never more than 28, although considerable more fragments could be associated to anatomical groups. The colour of the bone ranged from black, indicative of charring only, to the white obtained with full oxidation. There is no evidence to suggest deliberate fragmentation of the cremated bone prior to burial.

[SF209] had been placed in a small steep-sided, flat bottomed niche, approximately 0.5m long, 0.3m wide and 0.25m deep cut into the north facing side of ditch 2922, at the base angle. The burial was undated and possibly redeposited. It was of a young adult of indefinite sex .

<1> Davies, S M, Bellamy, P S , Heaton, M J , and Woodward, P J, 2002, Excavations at Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester, Dorset, 1984-87 (Monograph). SDO9565.

Record last edited

Jan 10 2007 10:29AM