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Site name Hod Hill, Stourpaine
Site number 1137
Burial codes 2003 2004 2009 2022 2023 2026 \\\\n2028 2030 2035 2036 2042 2047 2051 2053 2065 2071 2075 2084 2092 2103 2104 2105 2107 2108 2109 2110 2111 2121 2122 2123 2125 2127 2128 2129 2143 2151 2153 2168 2181
8/700bc-100bc A hill fort of the Mid to Late Iron Age, with some settlement evidence within the outer ramparts.

At the Steepleton Entrance an adult female skeleton very tightly contracted on the left side was found in a small pit under the counterscarp mound. The body had been squashed into place and may have been bound. The pit was filled with chalk and limestone blocks and had been covered with a low mound of chalk 2.4m high x 0.6m deep. This was immediately covered by the counterscarp mound of Period IIB. The excavator described this as a foundation burial. There were no associated objects. [Richmond]. [5th-3rd Century BC?]

In Pit Group 5c/6, which was enclosed by a bank without a ditch, and had an entrance at the south east, Pit A was 2.7m x 2.7m x 2m deep. In its lowest layer it contained amid chalk rubble, pot boilers, slingstones, and coarse pottery, the fragments of a human sacrum and vertebrae, believed to be from a previous burial disturbed by the pit. In the middle layer the debris was of the later Romano-British occupation of the site. [Boyd-Dawkins] [5th-3rd Centuries BC?]

In Pit C of this group the lowest layer contained animal bone and coarse pottery, and rubble on which a completely articulated skeleton of a young adult rested on its side, crouched, head to NW. There were also bones of a child and an old man, believed previous interments. These were dated as probably 'prehistoric Iron Age' (?pre-Roman) and the hut was judged to have been occupied in later times when the burials had been forgotten. [Boyd-Dawkins] [5th-3rd Centuries BC?]

In a penannular enclosure in Pit 15b (1.8m across x 1.12m deep) was a primary female inhumation largely removed by the burial of the secondary occupants. The primary filling was chalk and clay with a large fragment of decorated pottery. Other sherds were classed as Hod Hill Iron Age 'A' and 'B'. The secondary inhumation was of an adult female, crouched on the left side, with the skeleton of an infant between her knees. The bodies had been covered with lumps of broken chalk. Potsherds in the fill were of Hod Hill Iron Age 3rd 'B' and 'C'. The female skull had a metopic suture, a rare trait shared with the female in Pit 15c. Associated objects were: 2 chalk loomweights, a bone bobbin, a latch-lifter, the handle and iron hoop of a bucket, a lock-ring and a bronze spiral finger ring. [Richmond]. There were also in association horse, ox and pig jaws, [Wilson]. [5th-3rd Centuries BC?]

In a penannular enclosure in Pit 15c (2.32m wide x 1.95m deep) was the skeleton of an adult female tightly contracted and possibly bound in a secondary pit excavated into the filling of the primary pit. The skull shared the metopic suture feature with that from Pit 15b. There were no associated objects. The primary pit fill contained an iron La Tene brooch, fragmentary shale bracelet, spiral finger ring, iron knife, iron spearhead and sherds of Hod Hill 2nd and 3rd Iron Age 'B' pottery. {Richmond] [5th-3rd Centuries BC?]

Unenclosed Pit 5b/3 contained in its second layer soil and rubble chalk with a layer of charcoal at the centre on a hearth of flints. Pot boilers, coarse pottery, bones of bos longifrons, sheep or goat, hog and a fragment of human skull occured in this layer. Below was another deposit of domestic refuse. [Boyd-Dawkins] [3rd-1st Century BC?]

Outside the rampart line burial F was accidentally found an adult skeleton buried in a round-bottomed pit dug into the top of the counterscarp mound. There were no associated objects. The counterscarp was constructed in Period III of the fort. [3rd-1st Century BC?]

An adult female's fragmentary remains were scattered on the old ground surface under the rampart near the Steepleton Entrance. [3rd-1st Century BC?]

An unsexed adult was buried in a shallow scoop under the counterscarp at Home Gate. [3rd-1st Century BC?]
100bc-AD43 Some of the above burials may have been of this period [ie in the 1st Century BC].
Remains/Period Y2 Y1
County Dorset
Region S
National grid square ST
X coordinate 857
Y coordinate 106
Bibliographic source Boyd Dawkins 1900, Richmond 1967, Whimster 1981, Wilson 1981, Wait 1985


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004