Monument record MDO18527 - Alington Avenue; Bronze Age Inhumation 3907

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 about 15 years, laid in a crouched position partially on her back, with the knees drawn up to the right and arms folded on the chest; the head was at the north end of the grave. No finds were associated with this burial, but it was the only one of the three graves which actually cut the base and side of the eastern side of the secondary fill of ditch 1600. The grave was 1.50m long, 0.70m wide and 0.50m deep in the shape of an irregular flat bottomed oval.

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 3907, on the eastern side of ditch [1600], contained the burial of a female, aged about 15 years, laid in a crouched position partially on her back, with the knees drawn up to the right and arms folded on the chest; the head was at the north end of the grave. No finds were associated with this burial, but it was the only one of the three graves which actually cut the base and side of ditch 1600. The grave was 1.50m long, 0.70m wide and 0.50m deep in the shape of an irregular flat bottomed oval.

<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