SDO9523 - Dorchester, New Cemetery and Sports Centre, Poundbury. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

A desk-based assessment and field evaluation of land on the north-western outskirts of Dorchester were undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in the Spring and Summer of 1997. The project established that potential for archaeological remains existed in the area of the proposed new cemetery and sports centre development. An excavation was subsequently carried out during the autumn of 2000 within a 1.7 Ha. plot adjacent to Poundbury Road, where the construction of the cemetery was intended. This article briefly describes the results of the 1997 evaluation which comprised 40 trenches of which archaeology was recorded in 30. Excavated features included ditches and pits relating to a Bronze Age field system along with elements of a Bronze Age settlement. The article then goes on to describe in some detail, the results of the subsequent excavation. Two areas, totalling c. 570 m2 were excavated. Area 1 was located to establish whether any archaeological features, deposits or artefacts associated with the Bronze Age enclosed settlement identified in the 1997 evaluation extend into the proposed development area. Area 2 was positioned to explore a confirmed ditch intersection to improve our understanding of the prehistoric field system. Two large pits were found in Area 1. Early Roman pottery in the upper fills of one of these pits suggests that it is of prehistoric date. The proximity and morphological similarities of the second pit suggest that the pits were contemporary, although neither can be more precisely dated. These pits were probably chalk quarries, the material obtained being used to marl the fields or perhaps in the construction and/or remodelling of the Poundbury Camp ramparts. No further evidence for the date of the well-defined ditched field system was recovered during the excavation, although a Bronze Age date still seems likely. Stakeholes found in the base of the ditches cannot be paralleled in the immediate area but probably represent a fence constructed within the ditch itself. The presence of two small pits in the northeast corner of Area 2 may indicate the presence of further settlement activity in this area beyond the limits of the present excavation.