EDO6066 - Wood Hill, Charlton Down, Charminster; excavation

An archaeological excavation and monitoring took place as part of works by Wessex Water plc to construct a balance tank. Topsoil was removed to a depth of c. 0.3m by machine equipped with toothless bucket at the site of the access road and the position of the tank and infrastructure. 12 archaeological features were excavated two of which dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. These were one pit and one ditch, the former's fill containing pottery, animal bone, copper alloy, slag, flint and burnt flint. Late Iron Age features included two pits and one ditch with similar fills to the above. There were two undated pits and four undated ditches possibly late prehistoric. There were two post-medieval/modern features. In relation to the artefacts found, the pottery ranged from Middle Bronze Age to Late Iron Age and included fragments of a Bucket Urn from the Deverel Rimbury tradition. The metal objects may have been part of a bronze spear or tool, a melted spill, iron binding strip, wire fragment. The fact that most of the artefacts were found in one LBA/EIA pit may have some significance.