Round barrow
One of the star features on the Ridgeway Hill site during archaeological investigations in the Weymouth Relief Road project was what remained of a Bronze Age round barrow.
This would originally have been a large circular mound of chalk surrounded by a ditch. The mound has long since been ploughed away but the ditch remains. In the centre, a single cremation burial, with the remains of what is thought to be a dagger, was excavated.
Round barrow monuments often act as a focus for later burials and in the case of the barrow in this excavation a number of later burials were discovered dug into it. These were laid out on an east - west alignment rather than crouched.
The evidence of nails and possible hob-nails from footwear together with pottery fragments in the soil lead archaeologists to think these probably date to the Roman period (AD 43 - 410). The Roman road followed the line of the current A354, which passes close to the site, so it is not surprising to find Roman activity in this location.
Photos of the archaeological work and finds (opens in a new window) 
are available as a collection on our Flickr account.
