Monument record MDO18504 - A37 Western Link; Bronze Age boundary ditches

Four parallel ditches aligned E-W were found on the slopes at the southern end of the route of the A37 Western Link during excavations by Wessex Archaeology in 1988. These produced small quantities of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery. They are likely to be part of a Bronze Age ditched field boundary system, other traces of which have been found further east during the development of Poundbury.

Four parallel ditches aligned E-W were found on the slopes at the southern end of the route of the A37 Western Link during excavations by Wessex Archaeology in 1988. At the southern end of Trench A was a 0.6m wide V-shaped ditch which produced seven sherds of Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery and a small quantity of worked flint, including a discoidal knife. About 96m to the north was a U-shaped ditch 0.9m wide which produced one sherd of Early Bronze Age pottery and one sherd of Early-Middle Bronze Age pot. This ditch had been recut at least once and cut through a complex of possible chalk quarry scoops. Fifteen metres further north were two small parallel ditches with a U-shaped profile. Two conjoining sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery were recovered from one of these ditches. These ditches are likely to be part of a Bronze Age ditched field boundary system, other traces of which have been found further east during the development of Poundbury.

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 1987, Dorchester By-pass (Excavation archive). SDO9385.

<2> Smith, R J C et al, 1997, Excavations along the Route of the Dorchester By-pass, Dorset, 1986-8, 203 (Monograph). SDO9379.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2006 2:49AM