<< Our Photo Pages >> Doghouse Hill - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Dorset

Submitted by coldrum on Thursday, 28 May 2009  Page Views: 13287

Multi-periodSite Name: Doghouse Hill
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.6 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Dorset Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Bridport  Nearest Village: Chideock
Map Ref: SY430915
Latitude: 50.720316N  Longitude: 2.808819W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4
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TheCaptain saw from a distance on 15th Oct 2020 Seen from a distance during a walk from Seatown up the coast path up and over the Golden Cap and around Stanton St Gabriel and back.

Doghouse Hill
Doghouse Hill submitted by TheCaptain : Seen from the top of Golden Cap, Doghouse Hill is the central of the three hilltops in the mid distance, just inland from the headland cliffs. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Settlement in Dorset. Archaeologists working for the National Trust think they have found West Dorset's oldest human settlement. Excavations over the last two weeks began when a number of artefacts were found by a man walking his dog.



Experts now believe people lived on Doghouse Hill on the Golden Cap estate up to 10,000 years ago.

Finds included a stone hearth, fire pit and pot shards from Bronze Age periods (2,500 to 1,000BC) and others from the Mesolithic Age (10,000 to 4,000BC)

Martin Papworth, from the National Trust, said: "Although it's a stunning coastal site now, 6,000 to 8,000 years ago this area would have been over a mile inland.


To find ancient pottery decorated with fingernail impressions and touch them with one's own hand, that's real contact with the past
Martin Papworth, National Trust

"The Mesolithic people who lived on top of Doghouse hill would have pre-dated farming, so would have been hunter-gatherers using these flints to work hides, cut meat and scrape fat from animal skins.

"After millennia of erosion, it's at risk of disappearing into the sea itself."

Further tests will now be carried out to accurately date the finds, which include ancient pottery decorated with fingernail imprints.

Mr Papworth added: "To find ancient pottery decorated with fingernail impressions and touch them with one's own hand, that's real contact with the past."

The dog walker whose finds sparked the dig has collected scores of artefacts in the area for more than 40 years, with many of his pieces housed in the Dorset County Museum.

Source: BBC News

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Doghouse Hill
Doghouse Hill submitted by Bladup : Looking East towards Doghouse Hill from Seatown beach (Vote or comment on this photo)

Doghouse Hill
Doghouse Hill submitted by Bladup : Doghouse Hill from Golden Cap (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SY4391 : Path to Seatown by Derek Harper
by Derek Harper
©2012(licence)
SY4391 : South West Coast Path to Dog House Hill by N Chadwick
by N Chadwick
©2012(licence)
SY4391 : Seatown : Doghouse Hill by Lewis Clarke
by Lewis Clarke
©2020(licence)
SY4291 : Doghouse Hill by N Chadwick
by N Chadwick
©2012(licence)
SY4391 : South West Coast Path on Doghouse Hill by John Allan
by John Allan
©2017(licence)

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Cliff erosion on Golden Cap estate exposes Bronze Age settlement by Andy B on Thursday, 28 May 2009
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ARCHAEOLGOISTS working on the National Trust’s Golden Cap Estate have uncovered a rare find – a Neolithic settlement exposed by cliff erosion.

The test trenches are being dug this week by National Trust archaeologists Martin Papworth and Nancy Grace, and a team of experienced archaeological volunteers, on Dog House Hill, near Thorncombe Beacon.

Mr Papworth said everyone at the site was excited by finding such rare Bronze Age settlement in the area.

He said: “It is unusual for West Dorset. Further east to Dorchester there is quite a lot of evidence, but west of Bridport this kind of site is rare. I don’t know of a settlement that is this early that has been found in West Dorset.”

The discovery has only been made possible because of the erosion of the cliffs.

Under normal circumstances the evidence would be buried at least a metre deep, Mr Papworth said. He added: “Although 5,000 years ago the coast wasn’t here at all. It would have been several kilometres further out. So what is now at the cliff edge would have been some way in land at the time.

“We have found bits of pottery and we think we have found a hearth, which would be from 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. We’ve found work tools and lots and lots of charcoal.

“It is especially exciting to see because the coastal erosion has exposed so many layers of the settlement and in effect saved us an immense amount of digging. Effectively the erosion means we can see all the occupation levels of the time.”

Finding so much charcoal means they can use carbon dating to pinpoint exactly when our ancestors would have worked the land here – and environmental archaeologists will be able to identify what kind of wood was being burned, he said.

There will be others clues in the soil too, he added. “Because the soil is so acid the pollen will have survived so when we analyse the soil we can find all the different sorts of plants that were growing here.”

The team will be digging until the end of the week and then all the finds will be taken away and shown to specialists who deal with pottery and flint, as well as the environmental archaeologists.

“Each specialist will put together their own story and then we will piece it all together with what we have found in the ground and then we will write the report on it.

“That won’t be for several months though. There are no instant answers.”

Source:
http://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/bridportnews/4385453.Cliff_erosion_on_Golden_Cap_estate_exposes_Bronze_Age_settlement/
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