Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

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Site name Bumper's Lane Second Quarry, Portland
Site number 741
Burial codes 4002 4006 4021 4023 4026 4028 4030 4035 4036 4042 4045 4051 4065 4075 4084 4091 4098 4103 4106 4107 4112 4127 4143 4166 4181
2500bc-14/1300bc A fissure like the inside of a rectangular chimney ran nearly vertically through 5.1m of the Roach and 2.4m of the Portland stone, and at least 0.45m into the underlying bed. It was about 0.75m x 1.2-1.6m. The lower part of the fissure was systematically emptied, after the upper part had produced two human skulls and other bones, and a limestone mace-head.

The fissure was generally filled with a mixed deposit of stone cap (limestone) fragments in a clay matrix with many small bones interspersed - scraps of skulls, human limb bones, artefacts, many animal teeth and bone pieces, and a few horn cores and animal skulls. In the debris in the lower part of the fissure were four fragments of human skulls, human limb bones, large numbers of mammalian bones and a few stone artefacts. The fissure was thought to extend further down. The lower stone artefacts included chert flakings and several hammer pebbles. The general filling of the fissure was uniform with no bedding or lamination, and indicated a single period.

The mammals were all domesticated types - pig, sheep, goat, ox and dog. The artefacts were (all but the mace-head) in the lower part of the fissure. They do not appear to be later than the Early Bronze Age. The human remains represented four individuals, a female c40-50, a male c50, a male c35 at least, and a male or female c30 at the most, of whom three had brachymorphic skulls. Given the domestic animals and the skull types, the deposits are likely to be Early Bronze Age.
Remains/Period Y4
County Dorset
Region S
National grid square SY
X coordinate 697
Y coordinate 716
Bibliographic source Stopes, Oakley and Wells 1952


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004