SDO9486 - Poundbury Depot, Poundbury West Industrial Estate, Dorchester, Dorset: Results of an archaeological evaluation

An archaeological evaluation at the West Dorset District Council Depot, Poundbury West Industrial Estate, Dorchester was undertaken by AC archaeology during January 2005. The site is located close to the putative line of the aqueduct into the Roman town of Durnovaria, the multi-period hilltop settlement of Poundbury Camp and the adjacent Iron Age to post-Roman cemetery. The work comprised the machine-excavation of a single 10 m long and 1.6 m wide trench located at the southwest corner of the depot where it was thought the aqueduct might cross through. This feature was not present, however, but the trench did contain a ditch running downslope that contained Bronze Age pottery, worked flint and animal bone. This ditch was sealed beneath a deep sequence of modern infilling layers, and any other archaeological features or finds present on the site are likely to survive beneath these.