Monument record MDO2967 - Iron Age and Romano-British settlement on Whitcombe Hill, Whitcombe

An Iron Age and Romano-British Settlement. Iron Age burials were found with jewellery and weapons. Roman pits, ditches and building remains were found along with painted wall plaster 1st to 4th century pottery and three infant burials. A stone relief was found which may be a dedication to a Thraco-Danubian god.

Excavation of the site was carried out from 1963 to 1967. A rectangular building 27 ft by 22 ft, with a scatter of pottery (1st or 2nd to 4th century), roof tiles, limestone slabs and painted wall plaster, was uncovered at 71138807. Flint foundations with remains of an earth and chalk floor and three infant burials were found at 71118807. Three inhumation burials were discovered at 71008803. The later excavations in 1966-7 uncovered evidence of a native Durotrigian settlement of pre-Roman origin. Inhumation burials,pottery and various jewellery and weaons of that period were found. The stone relief, which depicts a bearded horseman, thought to be of Roman date, later 2nd or 3rd century, and may be either a tombstoneto an auxilary cavalryman or a dedication to a Thraco-Danubian hero-god. Coins suggest occupation of the site into the late 4th century at least. <1-7>

A total of twelve inhumations in earth graves were located, eight of which were associated with Durotrigian grave goods; one young adult was buried in a full set of warrior equipment. <8>

The nearly complete stone relief is of a horse and rider. The suggestion that it is a cavalryman's tombstone is doubtful because of the lack of evidence for a military presence in Dorset in the (2nd/3rd AD. It probably therefore represents a `Rider Gad' and may be Thracian in origin. <9>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1965, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1964, 103-4 (Serial). SDO64.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1966, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1965, 96 (Serial). SDO65.

<3> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1967, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1966, 113 (Serial). SDO66.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1968, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1967, 126-7 (Serial). SDO67.

<5> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 619 (Monograph). SDO150.

'(26) WHITCOMBE HILL (SY 78 NW). Building Remains, Pits, Ditches, Inhumation Burials and a stone Relief (Plate 228) have been found E. of Cole Hill Wood near the crest of a ridge of Upper Chalk 250 ft. above sea level.
Surface debris seen after the relief was ploughed up in 1963 consisted of pottery sherds ranging from the 1st or 2nd to the 4th century A.D., clay roof-tiles and large worn paving slabs of limestone. Excavation in 1965 revealed (i) remains of a rectangular building (71138807) approximately 27 ft. by 22 ft. on a north-easterly alignment, with a floor of chalk and earth and robbed walls with traces of internal painted wall-plaster in situ; (ii) some 25 yds. to W. (71118807) flint foundations 1¾ ft. wide of a wall running on a different north-easterly alignment, flanked on both sides by remains of a chalk and earth floor with three infant burials; (iii) 45 yds. S.W. of (i), three contracted inhumations, one male and two female, buried on the right side in hollows in the chalk (71008803). These last were variously aligned N.W.-S.E. (head), S.W.-N.E. (head), and E.-W. (head); the man was buried with two Durotrigian vessels, possibly pre-Roman, the women with joints of pig, sheep and horse, and in one case an amber-coloured glass ring bead.
Further excavation in 1966–7 indicated a native Durotrigian settlement of pre-Roman origin with chalk-cut storage pits and ditches, some of which had been made up with chalk at the sides where they had cut through older pit-fillings. Of nine more inhumations, mostly in shallow scooped graves, at least seven were contracted on the right side with heads in easterly directions. One adult male wore an iron bracelet; two others had a pair of Durotrigian pots, while two seem to have been unaccompanied except, in one case, by bones indicating food offerings such as occurred in several of the graves. A girl aged about 16, one of two burials in rectangular graves, had a necklace of ten glass, one paste and two wooden beads, and two Durotrigian and two samian vessels (forms Déch. 67 and Ritt. 12) dating the interment to c. A.D. 90 at earliest. A male of about 27, with indications perhaps of a wound in the right shoulder, was unique in the region in being buried with iron weapons as well as ornaments. These had consisted of a sword 2½ ft. long, lying by the right side in a bronze-mounted wooden scabbard probably attached by two rings to a belt or baldric, a spear perhaps grasped in the right hand, and a hammer-like weapon with chalk pommel in the left. A bronze brooch of La Tène II type lay above the right shoulder and a bronze ring with stud on the breast probably to fasten clothing or a baldric. This burial must be presumed prior to the Roman conquest.
The relief, apparently found near wall (ii), is of local Portland limestone, 8 ins. thick and 2 ft. 3½ ins. wide with a 3 in. plain border, and is now 1 ft. 11 ins. high having lost top and bottom portions. It depicts a bearded horseman with bare head turned to face the onlooker, wearing a flowing cloak curving in folds behind him over a belted tunic. The rider carries in his right hand a thick lance held at a forward slant and bears a round shield on his crooked left arm. A baldric, presumably to support a sword (not shown) at the left side, passes over a pad on the right shoulder. The horse, a stallion with short mane, drooping tail and prominent eye and nostril, walks to the right; it is harnessed with a neck rein, breast and crupper straps with two pendant straps or tassels, and has a rectangular saddle cloth and a saddle with raised front or saddle tree curving over the rider's thigh.
The sculpture, perhaps of the later 2nd or 3rd century, may be either a tombstone of an auxiliary cavalryman or a dedication possibly to a Thraco-Danubian hero-god regarded as a protector of hunters and a saviour in the struggle against forces of evil. Its probable date, and the lack of other evidence for a military site, favours the second interpretation. Coins suggest occupation of the site into the late 4th century at least. The relief and other finds are in D.C.M. (J.R.S. LIV (1964), 172; Dorset Procs. LXXXVI (1964), 103–4; LXXXVII (1965), 96; LXXXVIII (1966), 113; LXXXIX (1967), 126–7; cf. E. Will, Le Relief Cultuel Greco-Romain (1955), 56 ff.; G. I. Kazarow, Die Denkmäler des Thrakischen Reitergottes in Bulgarien, 2 vols. (1938); D. Tudor, 'I cavalieri Danubiani', Ephemeris Dacoromana VII (1937), 189–356.)
An inhumation burial, apparently contracted but of unknown date, was found at a depth of 3 ft. about ½ m. to N.E. in making the loop road round Whitcombe Hill (D.C.C., 19 May 1836).'

<6> Collis, J R, 1972, Burials with Weapons in Iron Age Britain; Germania, 51, 125-6 (Article in serial). SDO20214.

<7> Aitken, G M and Aitken, G N, 1990, 'Excavations at Whitcombe, 1965-1967' Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (Article in serial). SDO12588.

<7> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1991, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1990, 57-94 (Serial). SDO90.

<8> Whimster, Rowan, 1981, Burial practices in Iron Age Britain: a discussion and gazetteer of the evidence c 700 BC-AD 43, 261-2, 345-6 (Monograph). SDO17451.

<9> Cunliffe, B W and Fulford, M G, 1982, Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, Great Britain (Monograph). SWX1554.

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB72/03986 (Index). SDO14738.

ROMAN RELIEF OF RIDER (LATE 2ND/3RD CENT.) POSSIBLE THRACODANUBIAN HERO-GOD.SEE DOR2/PT 3/PL 228

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB72/03987 (Index). SDO14738.

ROMAN RELIEF OF RIDER (LATE 2ND/3RD CENT.) POSSIBLE THRACODANUBIAN HERO-GOD.(SEE DOR2/PT 3/PL.228/619)

<12> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB72/03988 (Index). SDO14738.

ROMAN RELIEF OF RIDER (LATE 2ND/3RD CENT.) POSSIBLE THRACODANUBIAN HERO-GOD.(SEE DOR2/PT 3/PL 228)

<13> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB72/03989 (Index). SDO14738.

ROMAN RELIEF OF RIDER (LATE 2ND/3RD CENT.) POSSIBLE THRACODANUBIAN HERO-GOD (SEE DOR2/PT 3/PL 228)

<14> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB72/03990 (Index). SDO14738.

ROMAN RELIEF OF RIDER (LATE 2ND/3RD CENT.) POSSIBLE THRACODANUBIAN HERO-GOD.

<15> Historic England, Historic England Archive, P11385 (Index). SDO14738.

IA 'CHIEFTAIN' BURIAL (PDNHAS/89/1967/126) SEE DOR2/PT 3/619 BURIED WITH IRON WEAPONS AND ORNAMENTS. Photographer: UNKNOWNDonor: UNKNOWNOriginal negative held by: UNKNOWN

<16> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454082 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 25 2023 4:35PM