Dorcester - Site VI Henge (Destroyed) View all content for Dorcester - Site VI (1 post)

Details of site on Pastscape A small sub-circular hengiform enclosure comprising a single ditch formed by 11 discontinuous oval pits of varying size. The site is part of the monument complex at Dorchester-on-Thames clustered around the cursus (SU 59 NE 5). The site was excavated in 1947 in advance of gravel extraction. Each segment had at least one post hole cut into its base, but there was reportedly no evidence of any uprights. 49 cremation deposits were found, of which 13 were in the central area and 33 in the filling of the ditch. Finds included some potsherds including Peterborough Ware from the ditch, and a transverse arrowhead with one of the cremations. "Site VI" excav. 1947. A cremation cemetery consisting of a causewayed ditch with external bank & an entrance-gap in N.W., containing 49 cremated burials, prob. late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Each segment of the ditch had a posthole cut into its floor. Full report to be pub'd by Ashmolean Museum. "during 1948". (1) Inf. as above. Ditch was originally formed of 11 segments. One of the cremation burials was accompanied by a flint fabricator, a `petit tranchet' derivative arrowhead & burnt flint flakes. Sherds of Peterborough ware were found in the ditch though not in the primary silting. The 49 burials included the remains of 55 individals. Finds suggest a Neo date for the site. [SU 56869580]. (2) Class I in `Classification of Henge Monuments in G.B'. (3) Dorchester VI. SU 570 957 (sic) Listed by Kinnes as a Neolithic ring ditch with cremation burials in the enclosure and upper ditch fill. (4) Listed by Harding and Lee as a mini-henge. (5) Cropmark remains of a small Neolithic hengiform monument seen at SU 5686 9580. The site consists of a sub circular enclosure defined by a single ditch with a diameter of 10 and an entrance to the north. It lies 15m from the south-west ditch of the Dorchester Cursus. The site was mapped at 1;10,000 scale for the RCHME: Thames Valley NMP (Morph No.TG371.23.1). (6) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE TEXT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society Oxoniensia Arch.Notes 1947. XI-XII Page(s)164 (2) by R J C Atkinson, C M Piggott and N K Sandars 1951 Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon: first report. Sites I, II, IV, V and VI, with a chapter on henge monuments (3) General reference - Ref as T.2 p.94. (4) by Ian Kinnes 1979 Round barrows and ring-ditches in the British Neolithic British Museum occasional papers no.7 page(s)19 (5) by A F Harding ; with G E Lee 1987 Henge monuments and related sites of Great Britain : air photographic evidence and catalogue BAR British series1 (1974) - Site 153 175 Page(s)247 (6) RCHME/EH Aerial Photographers Comment Fiona Small/02-APR-1993/RCHME: Thames Valley NMP

Posted by Chance 5th February 2012ce

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