Monument record MDO18526 - Alington Avenue; Bronze Age Inhumation 1582

Evidence for a Bronze Age inhumation was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue in the SW corner of the main site. It comprised the burial of a female, aged 45 years or more, laid in a crouched position on the right side, head to the south approximately. The left arm was laid over the legs, but the right was bent upwards, with the hand apparently clutching a smooth gravel pebble. This grave, one of three similar cut through the secondary fill of the eastern part of the Bronze Age double ring-ditch, was located in the northern terminal of the ditch. The grave was 1.20m long, 0.60m wide, 0.60m deep, irregular in plan and trapezoidal in profile.

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.

Three inhumation burials [127], [1582] & [3907] were associated with ditch [1600] the eastern section of the Bronze Age double ring ditch in the SW corner of the main site. They were all tightly crouched, one in the northern terminal, one on the east side, and one on the south. All three burials lay on the base of the ditch, or on a thin layer of chalk rubble, and all were aligned with the ditch. The burials were deposited after the formation of the secondary fill layers, and cut through those layers. The lack of similar burials in ditch [2350] may be because less of that ditch was examined rather than reflect a true absence. These burials are secondary in nature to the main double ring barrow.

Grave 1582, in the northern terminal of ditch [1600], contained the burial of a female, aged 45 years or more, laid in a crouched position on the right side, head to the south approximately. The left arm was laid over the legs, but the right was bent upwards, with the hand apparently clutching a smooth gravel pebble.

<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

Aug 29 2024 12:32PM