Monument record MDO17999 - Middle Farm; Middle Bronze Age linear boundary

A substantial linear ditch, oriented roughly north-south, which cut the eastern side of the Middle Farm Bronze Age enclosure was found during the excavations at Middle Farm undertaken by Wessex Archaeology in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass. This ditch is probably the remains of a substantial boundary feature. Four inhumation burials (possibly five) were found within the ditch fills.

A substantial linear boundary aligned roughly north-south was found immediately east of the Middle Farm Bronze Age Enclosure during excavations in 1987 by Wessex Archaeology in advance of the construction of the Dorchester By-pass (1) (2 ) (3). The numbers in square brackets below are context and feature numbers used in the report and archive (1) (3).

This boundary comprised an earlier ditch [03420] which had been almost completely removed by the later recut ditch [03051]. Ditch [03051] had a variable profile changing from a deep steep-sided flat-bottomed feature to the north to a shallower more rounded feature to the south. The ditch had a rounded terminal to the north and the southern end curved round to the southwest cutting through the fills of the Middle Farm Bronze Age enclosure ditch. The nature of the deposits filling the ditch varied along its length but a broad general sequence could be identified. The primary fill was a clean chalky clay which was sealed by a substantial fill of vacuous chalk rubble which contained some earlier prehistoric pottery, a bone gouge and a saddle quern fragment. Three burials were placed on top of this chalk rubble layer and a possible fourth burial was found in a similar position during the original evaluation. The burials were sealed beneath a layer of flint rubble and a series of soil layers above containing Middle Bronze age pottery. The final fill was a shallow silty loam soil.

A terminus ante quem for the date of construction of this boundary is provided by the radiocarbon date of 1690-1260 cal BC from one of the burials in the secondary fill, perhaps suggesting the boundary was defined in the mid 2nd millennium BC. This boundary is later than the Middle Farm Bronze Age enclosure, but the way the boundary ditch curves round to follow the edge of the enclosure ditch suggests that the enclosure ditch still survived as a slight earthwork at that time. The scale of the boundary ditch suggests that it may have been associated with stock control, perhaps separating the stock from the settlement araa.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 68 NE 196 (Index). SDO9937.

<1> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 75-80 (Monograph). SDO9379.

<2> Woodward, P J and Smith, R J C, 1987, Survey and excavation along the route of the Southern Dorchester By-pass, 1986-1987 – an interim note (Article in serial). SDO9381.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

Record last edited

Jan 13 2006 4:11AM