As part of the archaeological work on the Weymouth Relief Road, over 700 burial mounds on the South Dorset Ridgeway have been surveyed.
Wessex Archaeology worked with Dorset County Council and the South Dorset Ridgeway Steering Group to undertake a condition survey of the barrows scattered over 9,080 hectares.
This image shows the latest find from the relief road Viking burial pit – a pair of front teeth that have been deliberately filed.
It’s unclear what the purpose of the deep horizontal grooves is, but it’s safe to say it wouldn’t have been a pleasant dental experience.
The discovery was made during the ongoing analysis of all the artefacts from the relief road archaeological excavations.
The relief road Vikings will feature in a Time Team special on Monday night.
The Real Vikings: A Time Team Special will be broadcast on Monday 11 October at 8pm on Channel 4. Tony Robinson, Mick Aston and Phil Harding follow digs around the UK that uncover a vast array of archaeology and provide fascinating insights into our Viking past.
Footage of the Ridgeway burial pit, filmed by the county council’s Dorset Centre for Education Technology, will be included in the programme and give residents a chance to see the find in context with other excavations from the same period.
We were amazed at the public response to the recent archaeology exhibition, 7,131 people came through the doors to have a look at the finds from the relief road.
Another 251 people attended the archaeological day school.
If you were unable to get to the Weymouth Pavilion, information about the archaeology from the site is available online. The picture slideshow that was on display at the exhbition is also available on our website.
Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, and now the relief road burial pit – in 3D!
Oxford Archaeology has pieced together photos of the Ridgeway mass grave to create this 3D image.
At the current exhibition, which ends at 8pm tonight, you can put on 3D specs and see the gruesome discovery.
We spoke to Vix Hughes from Oxford Archaeology at the exhibition in Weymouth to find out more about the significance of the Iron Age settlement discovered at Southdown Ridge.
Vix was in charge of the Southdown excavation, which took place last summer.
We’ve had an amazing response to the archaeological exhibition at the Weymouth Pavilion Ocean Room – with over 1,500 people through the doors already!
Today the exhibition is open until 5pm. Monday and Tuesday the exhibition is open from 9am until 8pm.
If you can’t get along to the Ocean Room the exhibition handout is available online, and we’ll put some more bits on during the next two days.
Spaces are still available on the Weymouth Relief Road archaeology day school this Saturday, 20 March.
Tickets cost £12, and the day includes presentations by Oxford Archaeology, Wessex Archaeology and Dorset County Museum, as well as having access to the exhibition.
To book a space call Dorset County Council senior archaeologist Claire Pinder on 01305 224921, you will then be able to pick your ticket up on the door.
Limited space – over 200 tickets sold so far!
If you don’t book, you can’t come in!
Analysis of teeth from the Ridgeway burial pit has revealed that the beheaded men were Scandinavian.
Remains of ten individuals from the execution pit have been painstakingly processed by Dr Jane Evans and Carolyn Chenery at NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory based in Nottingham.
They have concluded that the most likely place of origin for the excuted warriors is somewhere in the Scandinavian countries; Norway and Sweden, or Finland.
Discovered in June 2009, the pit contained 51 skulls placed in one distinct area of the pit, and the bodies discarded haphazardly in another area of the grave.
Archaeological finds from the relief road will be going on display at Weymouth Pavilion’s Ocean Room this month:
Finds on display will include ancient bones, Iron Age pottery, shale jewellery and many other artefacts from the site.
Archaeology enthusiasts may also like to attend a ticketed Day School on Saturday 20 March.
