Monument record MDO18524 - Alington Avenue; Bronze Age Double Ring-Ditch 2300

Evidence for a Bronze Age double ring-ditch was discovered during excavations at Alington Avenue in the SW corner of the main site. It comprised a pair of contiguous penannular ditches, forming a double or bi-lobate enclosure with a central causeway on the north side. The eastern ditch was the larger and surrounded a slight circular structure set almost centrally within it. The eastern ditch cut through the secondary fills of the long barrow. There were no other stratigraphic links with major landscape features on the site, although the same ditch was cut by a Durotrigian and a late Roman burial. It seems to have been respected by later boundary features up to the late Roman period , suggesting that it survived as an earthwork until that time at least. It contained three tightly crouched early Bronze Age inhumation burials inserted into the secondary fill of the eastern ditch. Two Iron Age pit burials were also found within the area enclosed by the eastern ditch.

Found during a series of evaluations and excavations conducted by Wessex Archaeology at Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester between 1984 and 1987. The results of the excavations have been published as a Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph; (DNHAS Monograph 15). The numbers in square brackets below refer to the context and feature numbers used in the published report (1).

Bronze Age double Ring-Ditch [2300] was located in the SW corner of the main site. It comprised a pair of contiguous penannular ditches, forming a double or bi-lobate enclosure with a central causeway on the north side. The eastern ditch [1600] was the larger and surrounded a slight circular structure [1100] set almost centrally within it. The eastern ditch [1600] cut through the secondary fills of the southern ditch [1998] of the long barrow [2000]. There were no other stratigraphic links with major landscape features on the site, although the same ditch [1600] was cut by a Durotrigian [1138] and a late Roman [1144] burial. It seems to have been respected by later boundary features up to the late Roman period , suggesting that it survived as an earthwork until that time at least.

The two ditches making up the monument [1600] & [2350] abutted each other on the south side in what appeared to be a deliberate and contemporary manner, though on the north side a 2.5m causeway remained between the two terminals. The ditches appear to have been cut as a continuous single structure with no re-cuts or cleaning episodes. The eastern ditch [1600] had an external diameter of c.37m and the western ditch [2350] had a diameter of c.30m. they both had regular steep-sided, flat based profiles along the whole of their length, reminiscent of the bipartite ring ditch further east. The depth of the ditch varied from 1m to 1.2m with a distinct step of c. 0.1m down to the base of the western ditch [2350]. The fills suggested that there may have been an external bank accompanying the ditch.

There was no artefact dating evidence for the deposition of the fills but they were cut by three graves [127], [1582] & [3907], containing inhumation burials, one of which was submitted for radiocarbon dating, suggesting that by 2580-1920 cal BC the enclosure ditches were at least half filled up.

The marked difference between the two areas enclosed by the two ditches was the presence within [1600] of a circular timber setting [1100], set slightly south of centre and two Middle-Late Iron Age pit burials. Structure [1100] was 10.5m in diameter and formed by a series of stake holes linked together by a narrow, shallow trench. There were three apparent gaps in the circuit, although they may have been caused by erosion or damage. That the gaps were original however was suggested by their distribution on the NE, NW & SW sides, similar to that of the burials in ditch [1600]. The only finds from structure [1100] were a few very fragmentary animal bones.

The ground plan of the monument is similar to that of a ditched double round barrow examples of which occur on the South Dorset Ridgeway. The circular stake structure [1100] may represent some form of funerary structure within which burials were placed, directly on to the ground surface, immediately prior to the construction of the mound. The three burials in ditch [1600] can be regarded as secondary burials, all inserted into secondary fills of the ditch. The late 3rd millennium date from burial [127] suggests that the Alington Avenue double barrow may be one of the earliest barrows on the ‘Alington ridge’

<1> Davies, S M, Bellamy, P S , Heaton, M J , and Woodward, P J, 2002, Excavations at Alington Avenue, Fordington, Dorchester, Dorset, 1984-87 (Monograph). SDO9565.

Record last edited

Jan 10 2007 11:12AM