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Mount Pleasant

2 April 2021
Archaeology

Mount Pleasant was a popular street and place name once upon a time. There is also a Neolithic henge known as Mount Pleasant. In British Archaeology [April, 2021], a magazine sold in newsagents, we have an article on the henge [page 38]. It is located close to Dorchester, the county town of Dorset. It is a big henge but unlike Avebury it has no stones, or sarsens. It is 370m across and comprises a chalk bank 4m in height and 16m wide. The inner ditch has a depth of around 3m [not far short of 9 feet deep]. Five entrances into the henge exist and at one of them is a mound, 30m across. It has been christened Conquer Barrow. The IntCal 20 methodology has been applied at Mount Pleasant, and it was found that it was probably occupied, and built, within a 125 year period. It was a one off over a short period of time. It was roughly contemporary with the pyramid building in Egypt. However, it was modified on at least one occasion, around 2500BC. This period of activity coincided with what they call 'a building frenzy' in the Late Neolithic, requiring the involvement of hundreds of people, a huge investment in time, energy and resources. All this occurred shortly before the arrival of new immigrants from the near continent, which incuded the Low Countries. These were the so called Beaker folk. They introduced metals and new styles of pottery as well as a new language [it is believed]. See also the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 86 [2020] and https://new.archaeologyuk.org/british-archaeology-magazine

What was going on around 2500BC [formerly dated 2350BC until IntCal and Bayesian methodology came into use].

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