The Celtic World (Routledge Worlds)

• Chapter Twenty-Six -

Durotriges of Dorset

The Durotriges pf Dorset on the southern coast of Britain appear to have adopted a
new, possibly normative burial rite at the very end of the first century Be, which
endured until it was replaced by the romanized cremation rite a century or so later
(Whimster 1981: 37-59). The rite adopted was burial in simple earthen graves (and
exceptionally in graves lined with stone to form a cist), and the regular provision of
a limited but distinctive range of grave goods (Figure 26.3).
Burials seem to have been in defined cemeteries, probably with internal ordering
(perhaps by family?). The corpses were usually placed in a flexed position, on
the right side - placement on the left in 20-25 per cent of burials seems a deliberate
variation -and oriented with heads between north-east and south-east. The age range
excludes infants and young children but is otherwise 'normal', with both sexes
represented. Grave goods most often include a restricted range of locally produced
ceramic vessels, and less often joints of meat (beef with males, pig with females, and
sheep with either sex), and very occasionally personal ornaments such as brooches
or bracelets.
The general impression is of a fairly egalitarian distribution, with a low level of

• Durotrigion burials
  
  
  • Romano-British /undated burials
  
  
  • Pit-burials
  
  
  
  

land over 400' o .. - ....

IM-.

o

15

mls

kms

25

Figure 26.3 Distribution of Durotrigian inhumations in southern Dorset. (After Whimster

1981: fig. 15.)