SWX8454 - New Water Treatment Works, Sutton Poyntz, Dorset. Archaeological Excavation.

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Wessex Water to undertake a short programme of archaeological excavation prior to development of an area of land to the north of the village of Sutton Poyntz, Dorset. The Environment Department of Dorset County Council had requested the investigations in response to a proposed new Water Treatment Works. The presence of archaeological remains within the Site had been established by a previous phase of archaeological evaluation that identified a number of earthworks both within and adjacent to the Site. In addition, the evaluation recorded the grave of an adult male in a flexed position cut into the side of a former river channel. The burial was thought to be of later prehistoric date. A single trench, totalling 25m2, was centred on the human burial and confirmed the results of the evaluation in that the landscape within the Site remains one largely formed by deposition and erosion of colluvial and fluvial material. The burial appeared to have been located at a slight bend in the river channel but had been heavily disturbed by the excavation of a post-medieval drainage ditch. A small circular pit was identified to the immediate south of the burial, although its function remains obscure.