By starting the dig early, Dorset County Council ensured that Oxford Archaeology had the time it needed to do a thorough investigation.

This was the largest excavation of the Ridgeway for many years, with a 5.1 hectare area being stripped on Ridgeway Hill. The area is well known as a focus for prehistoric ritual activity.

The work on the Ridgeway site have been completed and a phase of detailed analysis of the records and finds is being carried out by Oxford Archaeology.

Archaeological video

 

If you are unable to view the above video, hosted on our YouTube channel, an alternate .wmv version is available on the right of this page.  We have also included a transcript of the video (pdf, 41kb) (opens in a new window) .

• 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.

• Railway building

  An unexpected find was the discovery of a small building constructed of chalk blocks and brick very close to the top of a back filled ventilation shaft for the railway tunnel, which runs beneath the site.

• Other features investigated

  Five very large pits, three of which were over 12 metres in diameter with two measuring 5 - 8 metres, were investigated on the site.

• Ridgeway Hill archaeological finds

  Now that the excavation at Ridgeway Hill is over, all the finds and records have been transported back to the Oxford Archaeology offices in Oxford and work has started on processing and interpreting them.

• Burials

  One of the main themes of the archaeological investigation of the Ridgeway Hill site is burial. These date from a number of different time periods and highlight the area was a focus for ritual activity for thousands of years.