Monument record MDO37221 - Iron Age 'Durotrigian' burial (7017) 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 a young woman.

A grave dug immediately north of a ditch terminal in which a dog had been buried during the early Iron Age. The excavators noted that the ditch may have been filled by the time of this burial, but felt that the selection of this particular location near the entrance to an earlier enclosure was unlikely to have been a coincidence. The grave cut was 1.23m long, 0.56m wide and 0.15m deep and aligned east-west with the head at the eastern end.

The grave contained the skeleton of a female between 26 and 36 years of age, in a tightly crouched position on her right side facing north, with one hand on the sternum and the other between the femurs. Examination of the bones revealed evidence of kidney or bladder stones, bunions, osteoarthritis and dental caries.

A copper alloy brooch, a Nauheim Derivative type of mid-1st century AD date, was found in the soil above the skull, and was probably worn by the body when buried. The upper filling of the grave contained sherds of early Iron Age pottery and two flint flakes, remnants of earlier activity in the area. A small fragment of shale found in the filling was thought not to have been associated with the burial. {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, 188-189 (Monograph). SDO14013.

Record last edited

Mar 31 2024 8:47PM