Monument record MDO37229 - Roman burial (7378) on Southdown Ridge, Weymouth

An inhumation burial in a coffin, one of three excavated at Southdown Ridge during archaeological work in 2008-2009 in advance of construction of the Weymouth Relief Road. The burial of an adult male wearing hobnailed shoes, and in a wooden coffin.

A grave located in the western part of the Southdown Ridge site, away from the Iron Age settlement where crouched burials were concentrated. The grave cut was 2.3m long and 0.34m deep, and was orientated ENE-WSW with the head at the eastern end. The grave was 0.54m wide at the head and 0.74m wide at the foot, and contained the skeleton of an adult male between 26 and 35 years old. Examination of the bones revealed evidence of osteoarthritis.

One hundred and twelve hobnails around the feet indicated that the body had been buried wearing nailed footwear. Thirty coffin nails were embedded against the grave cut and fragments of mineralised wood were found. The body lay directly on the base of the grave cut which was filled with a dark brown stony soil in which two sherds of late Iron Age pottery were found. At a higher level within the grave cut was a stony clayey silt containing residual early Iron Age pottery. {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, 192 (Monograph). SDO14013.

Record last edited

Jun 29 2015 11:09AM