Monument record MDO37402 - Bronze Age Pit 25004, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme Evaluation Trench 25

A large Middle Bronze Age pit was partially excavated in evaluation trench 24 of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. It lay in the angle of an L-shaped ditch. The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

A large Middle Bronze Age pit (25004) was partially excavated within evaluation Trench 25 of the archaeological evaluation of the Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Water Transfer Scheme route. It correlated to the location of a discrete geophysical anomaly (part of Anomaly 212) and lay within the angle of an L-shaped ditch. Pit 25004) was roughly circular and measured about 3m across and was excavated to a depth of 1.1m. Probing suggested the base was at least another 0.8m below this level. It had steeply sloping sides with a distinct ledge cut into the northern side. A series of fills were identified, one of which contained nineteen sherds of Middle Bronze Age pottery, a single flint core and flake and a burnt stone. Two small sherds of possibly Late Bronze Age pottery were found in the later silting in the top of the pit. [1][2]

This pit is visible as a cropmark on a 2005 aerial photograph. [3]

The record for this monument has been created with support from Wessex Water.

<1> Havard, T and Nicholl, M, 2013, Corfe Mullen to Salisbury Transfer Scheme, Wessex Water, Dorset and Wiltshire: Archaeological Evaluation, 16 (Unpublished document). SDO14094.

Pit 25004 (Fig. 47, Section 30) was located in close proximity to ditch 25002 and its location did not correspond to any anomaly identified during geophysical survey. It measured 3m in width, was excavated to a depth of 1.1m and had steeply sloped sides with a distinct ledge cut into the northern side. A fence pin pushed into unexcavated fill in the base of the pit suggested it measured at least a further 0.8m in depth. A complex series of fills deriving from collapse of the pit sides, a combination of silting and gradual erosion and some deliberate deposition was identified. Nineteen sherds of Middle to Late Bronze Age pottery, a single flint core and flake and a burnt stone were recovered from deliberately dumped fill 25010 and two small sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery from a later silting fill 25016.

<2> Marsh, B and Biggs, M, 2012, Geophysical Survey Report Corfe Mullen to Salisbury WTS (Unpublished document). SDO14089.

<3> GetMapping, 2005, Digital vertical aerial photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDO12563.

Record last edited

Jan 11 2016 5:03PM