SDO12258 - Shapwick Road, Hamworthy, Poole. Archaeological Evaluation, April 2003

In April 2003, Terrain Archaeology excavated two further evaluation trenches on a large site to the south of Shapwick Road, Hamworthy, Poole (SZ00159023), where part of a Roman ‘fort’ or supply base had been discovered during earlier archaeological investigations in 1999-2000. The two trenches were located one within the interior of the ‘fort’ and one just outside it to the south and east, in order to complete the evaluation of all the major archaeological areas of the site. Trench 12, excavated to the southeast of the ‘fort’, revealed pits, ditches and part of a possible round house dating the Durotrigian Late Iron Age, part of a settlement occupied in the period immediately prior to the Roman conquest in AD43. Trench 13, was excavated within the interior of the ’fort’ and revealed a dense sequence of archaeological features dating from the Mesolithic to the later Roman period. There were two, or possibly three, small features containing a sparse scatter of Mesolithic flint. This is the first stratified evidence for earlier prehistoric occupation of the Hamworthy peninsula. The main bulk of the features on the site belong to the Late Iron Age to the early Roman period (c. BC50-AD100), with a small number of features belonging to the 2nd century AD or later. The late Iron Age occupation is represented by a series of irregular ditches and pits, which may be industrial rather than domestic in function, though the evidence is poorly understood at present. The Roman military features are difficult to define and isolate from the rest of the archaeological sequence, but include a number of small slots that may possibly belong to two timber buildings. Together with a scattering of postholes and small pits. This evidence does not point to dense regularly spaced military buildings in this part of the ‘fort’ or supply base. The evidence for activity in the later first century AD following the military phase comprise a complex series of intercutting curvilinear ditches and pits. Together with a possible hearth, which may be associated with salt working. These are replaced in the early 2nd century by a boundary ditch running NW-SE. The final phase of activity is represented by an inhumation burial aligned roughly N-S with the head to the west and a shallow pit containing disarticulated human bones, which may be associated with a number of burials found to the north of Blandford Road, tentatively dated to the third century AD. Overall, this phase of evaluation has revealed the first evidence for Mesolithic occupation of Hamworthy, together with the first evidence for pre-Roman occupation on the site. The nature of the Roman military has not been clearly defined, but the whole of the area within the defences is not full of closely spaced regular buildings as may be anticipated within a regular Roman fort. The occupation of this part of the Hamworthy peninsula is shown to continue into the second century but is perhaps less dense than during the first century AD. The archaeology in both of the areas is considered to be of regional importance.