SDO14246 - Summary Report on the 1998 Assessment of Excavations of Barrow 34 and 41, Chalkpit Field, Down Farm, Gussage St Michael, Dorset

Report on a project designed to be a preliminary study of the feasibility of investigating former land surfaces found preserved beneath Bronze Age barrows on chalk downland. Conventional archaeological trench investigation was combined with the application of soil micromorphological and palynological approaches to tried and tested molluscan analyses of the palaeosol and ditch deposits. Magnetometer and resistivity surveys were used to pin point the position of the ring ditches, the extent of surviving mounds, and areas of disturbance. Magnetometer survey of the area between the barrows revealed no definite archaeological features, but a very shallow dry valley was present. Ground penetrating radar on one barrow located the outer and inner ring ditches with great accuracy but appeared to over-emphasise the depth of the ditches. The in-field radar print-out suggested ditch cuts and multi-horizonation within the ditch fills that were not completely verified by subsequent excavation; the radar may have been confused by bedding disconformities within the chalk subsoil.