Monument record MDO18532 - Alington Avenue Neolithic Long Barrow 2000

Evidence for a Neolithic Long Barrow was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue in the centre of the main site. It was represented by a pair of parallel and segmented linear ditches aligned almost exactly E-W. Both ditches were c. 75m long although the northern ditch was broken by a metre wide causeway towards its western end. There was no trace of any surviving earthwork and no contemporary features were identified in the area between the ditches. A later, probably early Bronze Age, bipartite ring ditch was inserted at the east end of the monument. The ground plan and dimensions of the monument are consistent with other long barrows in South Dorset.

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 <2>.

Neolithic Long Barrow [2000] was located in the centre of the main site and represented by a pair of parallel and segmented linear ditches aligned almost exactly E-W. Both ditches were c. 75m long although the northern ditch was broken by a metre wide causeway towards its western end. There was no trace of any surviving earthwork and no contemporary features were identified in the area between the ditches.

The ditches were almost parallel, but diverged slightly at the east end, so that the maximum external width there was c. 16m compared with c.14m at the west end. The internal width between the ditches was consistently around 10m, but broadened at the east to c. 14m. The exact plan of the monument at the eastern end was not fully retrievable because of the insertion of a later, probably early Bronze Age, bipartite ring ditch [2921]. The ditches were dug as a series of overlapping pits or segments; ten in the northern ditch and 11 in the southern. Each pit segment was c. 6m long and composed of up to three separate hollows with slight ridges between. In profile the pits had flat or slightly rounded bases with near vertical sides. They tended to increase in depth towards the eastern end of the ditches in line with the increasing ground level height, perhaps suggesting that the original barrow mound may have been enhanced at this higher end.

The ground plan and dimensions of the monument are consistent with it being identified as a Kinnes Type A1 long barrow; with straight or slightly arcuate parallel or slightly splayed flanking ditches and with a gap or causeway left in the northern ditch, about two thirds along its length (2). There is some evidence for structured deposition, although the small quantity of material recovered makes this interpretation uncertain. Finds from the base of the primary fill in the middle section of the northern ditch include a bos skull and several other cattle bones. The association of bovid skulls with long barrows in Wessex is a recurring phenomenon.

Some sherds of plain flint gritted Neolithic pottery were also recovered from the primary fill along with some worked flint. The main dating evidence comes from a radiocarbon assay on the cattle skull which gives a date of 3370-2910 cal BC for the construction of the monument.

<1> Kinnes, I, 1992, Non-Megalithic Long Barrows and Allied Structures in the British Neolithic (Monograph). SDO10065.

<2> 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.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1147983 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 4:23PM