Monument record MDO37211 - Iron Age 'Durotrigian' burial (7151) on Southdown Ridge, Weymouth

An uncoffined inhumation burial recorded during excavations in 2008-2009 in advance of construction of the Weymouth Relief Road, one of nineteen excavated in the area of an Iron Age settlement. The crouched burial of an adult female in poor health.

The grave was cut into the subsoil within the area previously occupied by an early Iron Age enclosure. The grave cut was 1.28m long, 0.94m wide and badly damaged by ploughing, being only 0.06m deep, with a filling of dark brown clayey silt flecked with charcoal and containing residual sherds of early Iron Age pottery.

The tightly-crouched skeleton was oriented NW-SE with the head at the south east end. The body was that of an adult female between 36 and 45 years old, lying on her right side with the forearm flexed and one hand by the right knee. Examination of the bones revealed evidence of pathological conditions including a depression fracture of the skull, an ossified haematoma, osteoarthritis and periostitis. {1}

<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, 186-187 (Monograph). SDO14013.

Record last edited

Jun 29 2015 11:03AM