Monument record MDO18087 - Flagstones Late Iron Age enclosure

A Late Iron Age rectilinear or rectangular ditched enclosure, partly revealed in the southeast part of the Flagstones excavation. Several pits were found within the enclosure and the enclosure ditch cut a Late Iron Age grave. The enclosure ditch and several pits were cut by a later ditch, which may be part of a remodelling of the enclosure.

Found during excavation at Flagstones by Wessex Archaeology in 1987-1988 in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass. The following description is abstracted from the final published report on the site (1). The numbers in square brackets refer to context numbers quoted in the report. The rectangular enclosure comprised a ditch [00011] running southwest to northeast which turned through a right angle to run southeastwards over the southern edge of the central ring-ditch. This ditch survived up to 2m wide and had sloping sides and a flat base 0.85m deep. It appeared to have been recut on several occasions. Ditch [00011] cut one of the gullies of the rectilinear field system and also the edge of grave [00015]. The primary fills suggested it may have had an internal bank. Finds from the lower fills included 134 sherds of 1st century BC/AD pottery, two fragments of fired clay, a perforated chalk lump and a fragment of unworked shale.The animal bone was mainly sheep/goat but also included the articulated left hind limb of a horse. The upper fills of the ditch contained a large quantity of finds including 598 sherds of 1st century BC/AD pot, 18 fragments of fired clay, nine fragments of ceramic building material and a bone gouge. Animal bone was again mainly sheep/goat and included further fragments of horse. Six pits were found within the enclosure ([00018], [00019], [00039], [00045], [00054], [00074]). Ditch [00011] was cut by the butt end of another ditch [00052] running NW-SE. This ditch also cut pits [00018], [00039], [00054] & [00074]. It may represent a subdivision or remodelling of the enclosure.

Record last edited

Feb 9 2006 10:36AM