Cor! What a Stud!!

 

This nice decorative door stud was recently found at the DMV site. This would have been from a building of status, so probably not from our DMV itself. 

Last shot?

We returned to the DMV site to do another geophysical survey just south of the scheduled monument area and picked up a possible disturbed area of ground covered by nettles, as they love the deeper soil. We won't dig the area yet, as we are also looking at another field on the farm where some nice artefacts have been found. We will do a survey on this new field and then if we start excavating again we can do both at the same time. It is worth a last shot to try and find some buildings. More to come. 

DA&HF AGM

 The Dorset Archaeology & Heritage Forum had its first AGM and DDCAG was there. Lots to look forward to in the near future and 2027. Interesting talks and a chance to network with other heritage organisations. 

Shale we dance?

You may remember the shale bangle from a previous post. The lower piece has been sitting in a damp bag since March and was finally recognised as another shale artefact. Better late than never.

 

DMV Dug Done

After finding some nice pottery artefacts, as modeled by the lovely Holly here, the DMV in the pond field is now closed.

Nice finger pinching there. 

On our last day we were taken by the landowner on a tour of the nearby quarries where the stone was worked by the villagers, mostly for building material and mortar making. Hence the stone fragments on our site. 

What a lovely view of the Isle of Purbeck countryside.

We now have a small exhibition of our site at the Langton Matravers museum. Go and visit if you are holidaying in Dorset and seeing the delights of the Isle of Purbeck. 

 

 

 

Eventful event!

 

Whilst attending the Isle of Purbeck heritage event this last weekend, where we had a display of our work at the DMV, the Bournemouth University Marine group showed us their work, as outlined by this poster.

They showed us their finds relating to the Purbeck Marble mortar vessels they had found on a wreck. This is the same material that has come up on our site. 

So it is quite possible that mortars were being made at our DMV, with stone taken from the nearby quarry up the hill. 

One very exciting find was this strange looking object found only last week.

This is a shale bangle blank (try saying that after a few pints!). This material was used to make bangles at Gallows Gore, now Lander's Quarry, just along the road from our site, with other Romano-British evidence being found there. Shale workshops were also at Povington, Blashenwell and Kimmeridge.   

 

 

  

Ghost town?

Two more trenches have been opened and another re-cut of the medieval boundary ditch has been found. Plenty of pottery and bones too.   

However, no sign of any postholes, bedding trenches, pits or cesspits. All very strange. This area should be where the houses are located. 

We will open one more trench and hope to find some evidence of habitations.