SDO21209 - Land South of Parmiter Drive, Wimborne Minster: Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

‘Wessex Archaeology undertook strip, map and record excavations totalling 0.35 ha, on land to the south of Parmiter Drive, Wimborne Minster, Dorset (centred on NGR 402500 099550). The work was commissioned by Lewis Wyatt Construction Ltd and was carried out as a condition of planning permission in relation to a mixed-use development (East Dorset District Council planning ref. 3/15/0839/FUL). The excavations were preceded by a desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation: the latter two had indicated two circular ditched features, one of these was tested by trenching and was interpreted as a ditch of a probable barrow of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date, though no funerary remains or dating evidence was uncovered. The evaluation also discovered a cremation burial in the east of the site and this was significantly radiocarbon dated to the Late Neolithic (2840–2490 cal. BC: SUERC-64556); an Early Bronze Age Food Vessel (not containing human remains) was also recovered from a pit. The desk-based assessment suggested that a Roman road had been projected to cross the site, though no evidence of this was found during the initial investigations or mitigation excavations. Four separate excavation areas (Areas 1–4) were targeted on the results of the preceding investigations. During the initial machine stripping of these it became apparent that there were two further ring ditches, previously unknown, in the central higher area of the site (Area 3); one of these cut the penannular ditch (tested in the evaluation) and therefore in consultation with the Senior Archaeologist at Dorset County Council the excavation area was extended (in line with contingency arrangements within the project design). In total, four ring/penannular ditches defining the remains of probable barrow monuments were uncovered (one in Area 1 in the north of the site and three in the central Area 3), all had been affected by later ploughing/landscaping with variable preservation evident. Though little datable material was recovered from the encircling ditches themselves, one (penannular ditch 9006) was proved to be earlier than ring ditch 9002 and is provisionally phased as Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. This penannular ditch was deeper than the others and its fill sequence showed natural silting with some evidence of turves that might have eroded from a mound that potentially once existed, though it contained no interior features or funerary evidence. Potentially contemporaneous activity was indicated by the presence of three small pits to the east (in Area 4) which contained a small quantity of Grooved Ware pottery, worked flint and charred hazel nut shells. The feature which contained the cremation burial of Late Neolithic date from the evaluation was reinvestigated and it was shown that this burial was near the base of a shallow pit feature. Little further information was uncovered regarding the surroundings of the pit which contained the Early Bronze Age Food Vessel, though the ditch thought to predate it, was a short segment, only 7 m long. The two newly-discovered ring ditches in Area 3 were associated with human cremated remains: the majority were recovered from seven small pit/grave features cut into a thin surviving layer of possible mound material within the interior of ring ditch 9004, including the remains of three urned burials and at least one memento mori deposit made in a ceramic vessel, with another urned burial within the interior of the adjacent ring ditch 9002. Interestingly, the human remains seem to be predominantly from juvenile individuals. Pottery assessment of the nine container vessels has suggested a Middle Bronze Age date, though as only the base and sides of these survived, it is possible that this date could extend into the Late Bronze Age. Other recovered finds are limited in quantity and material type but include worked flint, burnt flint, stone and fired clay, including a cylindrical bead and other fired clay fragments that could be the remnants of moulds. Given that the cremation burials could have been a secondary phase of funerary activity, and that the ring ditches may be earlier, a provisional Early–Middle Bronze Age phase has been assigned. The ring ditch (9001) in Area 1 similarly contained rare pottery (of mixed date: with a few sherds of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date, general Prehistoric date and an intrusive Late Roman sherd) and some worked and burnt flint: two small possible pit features within its interior are undated, and there was no evidence of either cremation or inhumation burials. Importantly, the soil conditions within the site are unlikely to have preserved any unburnt human bone, as indicated by the scarcity of unburnt animal bone. Evidence of charred plant remains is also scant. Other recorded features include shallow gullies indicating slight evidence of landscape division of uncertain date and a small number of shallow undated features including pits and an oven. The finding of the cremation burial of Late Neolithic date is rare and is of regional, if not national importance. The finding of the ring ditches, representing probable barrow monuments, two of which are associated with urned cremation burials/deposits of provisional Middle Bronze Age date is also of local to regional importance. Therefore, some further analyses are proposed, focusing on the cremated human bone, pottery, fired clay, worked flint, environmental remains and samples for scientific dating. The results of these analyses will be prepared for publication in a short article within the regional journal, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society.’