EDO4826 - Dorchester Police Station, Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester; observations and recording 2005

Wessex Archaeology carried out an archaeological watching brief during groundworks for a new housing development on land at the rear of Dorchester Police Station. The main period of the watching brief was between 30th August and 5th September 2005, with an additional site visit for the examination of a service trench on 24th October 2005. The site was extensively truncated as a result of the earlier construction of ancillary buildings to the Police Station. However, a number of surviving archaeological features were recorded. A total of five substantial undated pits, some intercutting, were recorded in the SE corner of the site. These contained prehistoric struck flint, Romano-British pottery and animal as well as human bone. The human bone recovered recovered from one of the pits suggests that it may have served a ritual or funerary function. A single Romano-British coffined inhumation was recovered from the southwestern part of the site. The individual was most likely a middle aged female who had suffered from osteo-arthritis prior to her death and who had incurred an infected fracture of the right leg during her lifetime.