SDO16229 - Land South of Westleaze, Charminster, Dorset. Archaeological Evaluation

‘In October 2017, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land south of Westleaze, Charminster, Dorset. A total of eighteen trenches were excavated within the site, targeted upon anomalies identified in a previous geophysical survey. The evaluation recorded several ditches and pits at the site. Features were present across the majority of the site, although there was a noticeable concentration of activity in the site’s southern half. Associated artefacts dated from the Early/Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. There were also some apparently redeposited Mesolithic and/or Early Neolithic worked flints. In combination, the evaluation and geophysical survey results suggest that the site was an area of agricultural/pastoral land in the near periphery of a prehistoric settlement active from the Early/Middle Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.’