Monument record MDO37210 - Iron Age settlement on Southdown Ridge, Weymouth

An Iron Age settlement recorded during excavations in 2008-2009 in advance of construction of the Weymouth Relief Road. Road construction affected only the western edge of the settlement, which may have been very much larger.

The settlement was established in the period c. 800-600 BC, the very earliest Iron Age, and appears not to have been enclosed at this time. It is not clear if the adjacent cross dyke was already in existence at this period, as dating evidence is inconclusive. The earliest activity on the site was the construction of at least one circular structure (7688); the excavators noted that there may have been other similar structures in adjacent unexcavated areas. This early settlement was greatly disturbed by later activity.

The circular structure (7688) was situated at the south-western edge of the settlement, and consisted of a discontinuous curved gully marking part of a circular building around 13 metres in diameter. Postholes inside the gully suggested internal supports or partitions. Two large postholes formed a south-east facing entrance, and several postholes outside the entrance may have supported a porch. The filling of one of the postholes of the doorway contained earliest-early Iron Age pottery, as well as flecks of charcoal, slag and animal bone fragments. Quantities of heat-magnetised waste suggest that industrial activity may have been carried out in the vicinity. A fragment of shale armlet was also found, suggesting shale working on the site during this early phase of occupation. A well-preserved stretch of gully revealed evidence of construction methods – the base and sides of the gully were lined with slabs of limestone, which would have supported timber wall posts and/or planks. The positions of the doorway and porch postholes suggested that the doorway may have been realigned at some stage. Some of the postholes in this area were sealed by a layer of limestone pieces, forming a paved area. Several pieces of animal bone had been driven into the ground around the edge of this paved area, perhaps to secure stakes or a hide or textile cover. The paved area was covered by a rich deposit flecked with charcoal and containing fragments of pottery and animal bone, which spread beyond the paved area, and up to and into the top of the gully. The excavators felt that one possible explanation of this was that at the end of its life the building had been modified for use as an outdoor working area. Inside the building a shallow irregular hollow was filled with heat-magnetised material and a small oval stone-lined pit within the building contained a fragment of smithing hearth. A further indication of industrial use was the presence of shale waste in two of the postholes associated with this structure. A yard area next to this structure had quantities of occupation debris trampled into its surface, apparently re-deposited occupation or midden debris. including fuel ash slag, pottery, and fragments of an unfinished or failed casting of a copper alloy socketed axe, which may have been a deliberate deposition for votive purposes. The pottery included red-finished oolitic wares, furrowed bowls, jars with linear incised decoration and finger-impressed jars, of the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age transition. The decorated examples correspond stylistically to forms dated to the 8th-7th centuries BC at Kimmeridge. Animal bones in this layer represented various species, predominantly cattle but including sheep/goat, pig, and a dog. A flint shale working tool was also found in this layer, but may have been intrusive.

Pits and postholes around the edges of the early Iron Age farm suggest that it may have been enclosed by an arrangement of fences that may have functioned in conjunction with the cross dyke. Unfortunately levelling of the site in the late Iron Age made it difficult to discern clearly the stratigraphic relationships between these various features. At an early stage, the southern side of the settlement was enclosed by a ditch and fence or palisade, possibly at the same time. Another fence line ran from the northern end of the cross dyke to a pit alignment on the northern side of the farm, which may have served as a boundary marker, as well as for storage. The excavators speculated that the fact that the fences were not replaced by an earthwork enclosure could suggest that settlement was not continuous and that there was a break in occupation of uncertain length, probably in the middle Iron Age.

In the late Iron Age a terrace was cut into the scarp slope at the northern end of the settlement, cutting the ditch of an earlier penannular enclosure, and indicating that the enclosure must have been abandoned by this stage. The terrace was was around 8.5m wide and 0.60m high and reinforced by a stone revetment wall, but does not seem to have been the foundation of a building. It may have been erected to define a space, possibly for a small building or buildings which were subsequently robbed and/or truncated by later activity. In spite of this disturbance it was clear to the excavator s that this terraced area accommodated a complex of features including a double stone-lined drain, a single drain, and a paved path lined with low walls and a small alcove. The terrace was cobbled and re-surfaced or patched at least twice. Occupation material overlying the cobbles contained a few sherds of middle-late Iron Age pottery.

The revetment wall was of dry-stone construction, surviving to a height of four courses, of roughly-shaped and unmodified limestone blocks and slabs. Some of the stones in the wall were burnt. Finds recovered from the yellowish-brown clayey silt filling between the stones included body sherds of a middle or late Iron Age burnished vessel in Poole Harbour ware, but also residual sherds more typical of early Iron Age date. A deposit formed largely of stone tumbled from the front of the wall contained pottery sherds dominated by Poole Harbour wares, including a late Iron Age necked jar and cordoned ovoid jar.

The terraced area appeared to have been re-organised while in use and was disturbed and truncated by later activity. This made it difficult to interpret the date, function and character of the complex, not least whether it accommodated a structure of any sort. However, the excavators felt that the terrace might have been created as a level, drained space in which various domestic or craft activities might be carried out, probably during the late Iron Age. A concentration of shale working waste, including offcuts and bracelet/armlet fragments, was found in a soil layer overlying the stony spread, and suggesting that a shale workshop was situated somewhere in the complex.

In the very late Iron Age, probably during the 1st century AD, the nucleus of the settlement was levelled using stone robbed from earlier buildings and midden-like material brought from elsewhere, possible from part of the settlement outside the excavated area. This midden like deposit (7002) was thick, varied but highly organic, and sealed several late Iron Age burials. The purpose of the levelling was unclear but seemed to mark the return of the area to agricultural use.

<1> Brown, L, Hayden, C and Score, D, 2014, 'Down to Weymouth town by Ridgeway'. Prehistoric, Roman and later sites along the Weymouth Relief Road, 149-177 (Monograph). SDO14013.

Record last edited

Mar 31 2024 8:47PM