Monument record MDO18530 - Alington Avenue; Iron Age Pit Burial 1482

Evidence for an Iron Age pit burial was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue in the SW corner of the main site. It comprised the northern pit of a pair located within the enclosed space formed by the eastern ditch of the Bronze Age double ring-ditch. It was 1.15m deep with a base diameter of 1.25m. The burial, that of a male aged 45 years or more, had been laid on its left side, with knees tightly drawn up to the chest and arms under the chin; the head was to the east. The burial had been placed in the centre of the pit base. A clay ball, iron pin may be deliberate deposits associated with the burial. A radiocarbon date of 390-330 BC was obtained from this burial.

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.

Two Iron Age pit burials [1482] & [2358] lay within the eastern end of the double ring-ditch, roughly halfway between the circular structure [1100] and ditch [1600]. Both pits were cylindrical and flat bottomed and both had a pair of shallow niches on opposing sides. Each pit contained a single crouched, or possibly trussed, inhumation burial laid on its base. The heavy weathered nature of the chalk fragments in the fill suggests that either the pits were left open for a long time with the spoil heaped to one side, or that the backfill was not derived from the digging of the pits, but possibly from an already weathered earthwork (the double round barrow for example).

Pit [1482] was the northern of the two pits, it was 1.15m deep with a base diameter of 1.25m. The burial, that of a male aged 45 years or more, had been laid on its left side, with knees tightly drawn up to the chest and arms under the chin; the head was to the east. The burial had been placed in the centre of the pit base. An unfired clay ball from near the hands and a fragmentary iron pin may be deliberate deposits associated with the burial, although a group of gnawed articulated bones from the right forelimb of a sheep are likely to be accidental inclusions. A radiocarbon date of 390-330 BC was obtained from this burial.

<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