Monument record MDO18423 - Poundbury, Middle Bronze Age Structure BA1

Evidence for a Middle Bronze Age structure, was discovered during excavations on Site C at Poundbury. It was a rectangular structure defined by two foundation trenches containing shallow sockets in the base for posts. The structure may have had a drip gully to the west and a central hearth marked by a pair of postholes and a burnt area. A single post-hole at the south end of the structure may represent a support for a gable end. A compacted surface to the east may be associated with intense activity outside this structure. A small quantity of Middle Bronze Age finds was associated with this structure. It was succeeded by another similar Middle Bronze Age structure (BA2).

Middle Bronze Age Structure BA1 was found on Poundbury Site C during the excavations directed by Christopher Sparey Green, for the Dorchester Excavation Committee, between 1966 and 1980, during development of the Grove Trading Estate on the eastern slopes of Poundbury Camp, Dorchester (1). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report (1). Two parallel slots [C229] & [C235] were excavated near the eastern end of Site C. They have been interpreted as the western and eastern walls of a Middle Bronze Age rectangular building. The slots were set 3.66m apart and the northern slot [C229] wast 5.79m long, suggeting a building with a floor area of 19.7m2. The slots were about 0.5m wide with a U-profile and between 0.15-0.4m deep, with the remains of shallow sockets or post-impressions in the base. There were three postsockets in the eastern slot which matched three in the western slot. An additional post socket was found in the northern end of the western slot. To the west of the western slot [C229] was the possible remains of a drip gully, although this has also been interpreted as belonging to an Early Bronze Age enclosure. A number of features were found within the interior of this structure. Two post-holes and an adjacent burnt area may indicate a central hearth. Another post-hole was found on the centre line of the building, but just beyond its southern end. An extensive and well-trampled area of small flints covering the natural solution holes south of the building suggests that intense activity had taken place outside the southern end of either this structure or its replacment, Building BA2. No occupation deposits existed within the interior of Structure BA1. The east and west slots produced some Middle Bronze Age finds including sherds of globular urn, fragments of cylindrical clay weight, a bone point, a rubbing stone and an unworked piece of Purbeck limestone (1). Middle Bronze Age Structure BA1 was succeeded by structure BA2. It lay adjacent to the site of the Early Bronze Age structure BA4.

Record last edited

Aug 3 2010 5:27PM