YHA Portland
A pre development excavation was carried out in the grounds of the Youth Hostel Castletown in 2002 and found evidence of Late Palaeolithic tools . A report was published in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 2004 (125)
The details below are from an edited version of the report prepared for the Association's July 2003 newsletter
1. INTRODUCTION
The site is situated at SY 68507399 off Castle Road in Castletown near the northern end of the Island of Portland and has previously been known as Hardy House or the MOD Police Station. An archaeological evaluation of the terrain round the Youth Hostel was requested by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council as a condition for granting development permission.. A.P.A. volunteered to do the evaluation in order to help the YHA. The proposed development involves an extension of the existing building to the rear (east) of the building into the present garden The hostel is immediately adjacent to the Portland Hospital in the north. The site is situated on the lower slope of the Verne Hill and the ground of the hostel’s back garden rises quite steeply from approximately 19.86m to 24.54m OD. The foundation trenches for the development (as proposed in 2002) would have to be excavated into this slope. The grounds of the hospital had been extensively excavated during WW2 in order to create underground facilities for wounded and sick MOD personnel. Part of the huge spoil dump involved in this work is still in the grounds of the hospital, immediately adjacent the northern side of the fence between the hospital and the Youth Hostel. Prior to the commencement of the evaluation work, it was not known for certain whether the slope in the grounds of the Youth Hostel was completely natural or was at least in part due to soil overspill from the huge soil dump in the hospital ground. The archaeological field work was carried out in June 2002, by volunteers of the Association for Portland Archaeology. Part of the brief was to involve residents in the hostel and we had many enthusiastic people participating. We also had volunteers from the local community and for many their first experience of archaeology .
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT
The assessment and excavation work prior to development was undertaken in order to ascertain and record whether this area of the Verne slope contained any archaeological material. It was also necessary to ascertain whether the slope of the hostel grounds was natural or due to refuse earth discarded here during the digging of the underground hospital.
3. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE SITE
In the late 20th century when Hardy House was built, very few developers kept a record of archaeological remains found during the work. Vast quantities of Roman and Iron Age material had, however, been found in most areas of the Verne and all over the slopes (Palmer 1998). Roman burials have also been found during the building of the houses on the slopes of the hill (Palmer, ibid) immediately to the south of the Youth Hostel. During the building of these houses and structures at the top of the Verne, there was very little understanding of lithic material and any remains of the Pleistocene period, except amongst people with a specialist ‘antiquarian’ interest. One such a person was Captain George Clifton, the first governor of the Verne citadel, which is situated at the highest point of the Verne hill. In the course of quarrying operations and excavation work for the ditches of the citadel ’twelve cartloads’ of late Pleistocene mammalia bones were found (Damon, 1884; Palmer, 1998). All these remains were stored in boxes in the passage outside Capt. Clifton’s office but all were later discarded except for one mammoth tooth, now in the Natural History Museum in London. In 1967 the present author found in the British Museum reserve collections a box containing 19 chert artefacts and one of flint which had been found in the south ditch, apparently at the same time as the mammalia remains, and were also given to the Natural History Museum in 1889 by Capt. Clifton and were transferred to the British.Museum. in 1914 (Palmer, 1968; 1998). These artefacts included 4 tanged points with areas of blunting retouch, 7 convex end-scrapers on short flakes , one convex end-scraper on a short blade, one oval scraper made from a thick flake and with a scraper angle of about 80o , 1 point (awl?) with extensive inverse retouch, 1 blade 8 cms long with some fine retouch along both edges, 3 utilised chert flakes and one of flint, 1 unretouched waste flake of chert.. All these artefacts were of a Late Palaeolithic aspect and was characterised by bold retouch, often of a blunting character. Some still had particles of orange coloured loam attached to them. This has the same appearance as the loam which is found at the base of the archaeological deposits at the Culverwell site and Site 1 at the Bill (Palmer, 1999).
4. METHODOLOGY
A geophysical survey of the whole ground was carried out and any anomalies recorded. Trench 1 (1m2) was opened as an exploratory trench in a southern part of the garden furthest away from the fence between the hostel and the hospital. This was excavated in order to ascertain whether any part of the garden could still give an indication of the original soil profile prior to the 19th/20th century work in the plot of ground or adjacent it. The main trench (T2 measuring 10 x 2m) was opened central to the area of the geophysical survey and the proposed development and cut across the slope of the hill (Fig. 3). Four sondages of .3m width within this trench was hand-excavated into the natural loam (Layer 3) to a depth of about 30cms. Two smaller trenches (T 3 and T4, both measuring 2m2) on either side of T2 were opened to test whether the stratigraphy found in the first two trenches was consistent over the whole (or at least most) of the terrain. They were also within the areas studied by the geophysical survey. It was not possible to open a trench at the highest part of the garden (eastern end) as that area had to be kept available for campers. The trenches were all located by measurements taken from plans provided by the developer. The topsoil of all the trenches, except T1, was removed by a small digger to the top of the in situ yellow-brown clay. T1 was entirely hand excavated.
5. STRATIGRAPHICAL SEQUENCE
The stratigraphical sequence in all four of the trenches was identical but the thickness of the deposits varied slightly in the different trenches in accordance with the slope of the hill.. Table below illustrates this sequence in a representative section of Trench 2:
Layer 1 Topsoil -
Brown clayey loam with turf and recent material, average thickness 0.2m
Layer 2 Natural probably Early Holocene solifluction deposit
Yellow-brown clay with fine decayed limestone, average thickness 0.2m – 0.35m ,
Layer 3 Natural Late Pleistocene deposit
Pale yellow -orangey gritty loam with slatty pieces of limestone, sandy in some places, thickness not ascertainable.
6.GEOCHRONOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS
The above sequence of deposits is similar to that found at the base of the archaeological layers in the excavations of the Mesolithic sites at Portland Site 1 (Bird Observatory) and Culverwell (Palmer , 1969, 1971 and 1999). Layer 2 was interpreted as clay which resulted in early Holocene times from the scouring of fresh water and fine rubble over the Pleistocene terrain of the Island. Other excavations carried out by the present author on Portland, appear to indicate that the clay accumulated only in low laying areas and gullies and contained debris derived from Pleistocene material, including mammalian remains as at the Verne and in Reforne (Palmer, 1998; 1999). The top of Layer 3, above, is an original freshwater Pleistocene land surface on which Late Palaeolithic people had a presence. As far as known at present, it is the earliest deposit on the Island to contain intrusive archaeological material. In areas where the clay (6.1 above) is absent, Mesolithic people were also active on this land surface and their tools became mixed with the remains of an earlier period, as at Culverwell (Palmer 1999, section 1.3). The stratigraphy of this loam can be studied in relationship to the early Raised Beach deposits which is clearly visible above the East and West Raised Beaches at the Bill and is there referred to as ‘Head’. The precise ages of these Beaches are still disputable and being researched but stages within the Middle to Late Pleistocene are indicated (Andrews, Bowen & Kidsdon, 1979; Davies & Keen, 1985; Keen, 1985). The West Beach is relatively the oldest of the two Beaches and has, cautiously, been referred to aminozones varying (according to different authors) between 4 -7. This means it is likely that the East Beach is much more recent, perhaps zone 3. There are, however, various problems associated with these dating zones, not least relating to the formation of the overlying deposits. Not all authorities are in full agreement with each other (Davies & Keen, op cit.). This problematical situation, relevant to the ‘Head’ above these Beaches was tentatively addressed in a study by Keene (1985). The yellow-orangey loam (Head) is a freshwater deposit but at the base contains abraded (derived) fragments of sea-water mollusca. It can, therefore, be deduced that the loam began to form during a period of lowering sea-levels and a fair degree of precipitation. These conditions could correspond to either the end of the arctic Older Dryas climatic phase or the Younger Dryas phase of the Late Pleistocene but there can as yet be no certainty as to which is relevant. The latter would fit in best with the data from the excavated early Holocene sites on Portland. The environment in the periglacial zone of southern England would have been one of fairly cold climate and the terrain one of ponds, marsh and grassland (Keen, op cit). The typology of the artefacts suggest that the Late Palaeolithic people probably arrived on Portland sometime after the end of the cold Younger Dryas period and during the early warm Preboreal c 10,500 years ago. A subsequent wetter climatic phase, possibly during the continental Boreal warm phase (when Mesolithic people began to arrive), caused streams of muddy water to scour the terrain and form the brown clay, referred to above 5. and 6.1. This clay incorporated derived material of Late Palaeolithic aspect in it as it flowed over the Portland terrain and accumulated in low-lying areas and in gullies as at Culverwell. It is possible that the above scenario was demonstrated in the geochronological position of two deposits of shell midden (with charcoal evidence) which was noticed in 1996 by the present author and other members of the Association for Portland Archaeology one evening during the roadworks on the slope of the Verne to widen New Road (Palmer, 1998, pg. 18, para 2). The two middens (one large, one small) were near each other and consisted of shell within deposits of dark clay with stone rubble about 5 metres below the present topsoil. As described, it was impossible to research that find properly at the time due to conditions of site visits imposed by the D.C.C. contractors and, unfortunately, by the next day the site was destroyed or completely covered with rubble. At the end of the 19th century Damon (1884) had mentioned a midden ‘with flint’ artefacts in the ‘top of glacial drift within the south-west glacis of the Verne adjacent the road to Fortuneswell’. It is possible that the middens noticed in 1996 may be the same (or part of the same) as noticed by Damon. These middens are likely to be of Pleistocene dating, as suggested by their stratigraphical position in the deposit exposures.
7. FEATURES
No man-made features were found in the excavated trenches. It was concluded that the anomalies suggested by the geophysical survey were due to natural irregularities. It appears from other experiences elsewhere on Portland, that geophysical research results are often difficult to interpret because of the shallowness of the topsoil and the nature of the bedrock.
8. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS AND DISCUSSION
A complete list of all the archaeological material found during the excavation of the Youth Hostel site is given in Table 1. They all appear to be of a Late Palaeolithic character. At both Site 1 and Culverwell some artefacts of a Late Palaeolithic aspect have been found but mixed in with artefacts from the predominantly Mesolithic assemblages. The first Mesolithic occupation occurred on top of the clay and loam described above. The Youth Hostel site is the only one so far examined on Portland which produced an assemblage of artefacts exclusively of a Late Palaeolithic aspect in association with contemporary natural deposits of the loam. It is suggested that finds in Layer 2 were derived by natural agencies from the context of in situ Layer 3, as discussed in 6.6 above Many of the artefacts found at the Youth Hostel site resembles some of the artefacts from the Verne (Palmer 1968) in typology and the boldness and steep angles of edge retouch. A blunting retouch is also quite prominent. Bulbar features in at least a third of the artefacts are either very limited or even completely absent and there are indications that these artefacts were made by edge retouching nodules of chert which were broken off from chert exposures by thermal action. This means that the Late Palaeolithic people utilized material which was lying around on the ground where they were sitting and that they did not bother to obtain their artefact material from primary sources, such as the beach or cliff exposures. This is a characteristic, which it is now realised with hind-sight, is also visible in several of the artefacts from the Verne (see e.g. Palmer, op cit Fig. 1 no. 1). When bulbar scars are present on the artefacts, they are often somewhat diffused, as though they have been abraded away. This characteristic could possibly be explained by an assumption that these artefacts were slowly moved within clay from higher ground (i.e. nearer to the top of the Verne) over rough terrain to the positions where they were ultimately found This abraded condition of the artefacts suggest strongly that they were not made directly on the Youth Hostel site. The relatively high number of artefacts found, suggest that the knapping site, or activity site where they were used, could not have been too far away as all the artefacts would have been much more severely abraded if they had been moved a great distance. The finding of two conjoining flakes from Trench 2 on the top of Layer 2 could suggest that at least some of the artefacts on the site were made there. These differing degrees of abrasion could indicate that possibly more than one original activity area was involved. The majority of artefacts in the collected assemblage are scrapers. These include convex scrapers (the majority), concave scrapers, some concave-convex , a few steep scrapers on thick or chunky pieces of chert and a small number of end and side scrapers. The next most common artefacts are awls or flakes with limited edge retouch which could have been used for cutting purposes. Only a few points are present and they are mostly broken.
Finds other than lithic.
One small sherd from a black Roman pot was found in the top of Layer 2 of Trench 2. This indicates that there was an element of later intrusion into the early archaeological layers. There was no indication as to the nature of this intrusion. Two small pieces of shale were also found in the same context. One small item each from Trench 3 Layer 2 and Trench 4 Layer 2 appears to be parts of the hinge of a shell.
The following is a summary of the finds:
A total of 263 lithic pieces were found. Primary flakes with bulbar scars only predominate (132); scrapers 47; flakes with limited edge retouch 52 of which 15 were on thermally fractured flakes; scrapers 47; awls 5; 9 points; 5 flakes with blunting retouch; fabricator 1; knife 1; burin 1. Three hammerstones were found as well as 4 beach pebbles which had been imported from the beach. Two flakes from Trench 1 were found to be conjoining. Only one Roman potsherd was found.
9. CONCLUSIONS
The Youth Hostel site is important academically as it provides some clarification of the situation found on the excavated two Mesolithic sites on the Island, i.e. the presence of artefacts of Late Palaeolithic aspect within artefactual deposits and features which are otherwise predominantly Mesolithic. The YH site also provides a small degree of clarification as to the possible geochronological relationship of the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic occupation of Portland and indicates a situation which should be kept in mind for further future research. The camping or activity area where the Late Palaeolithic artefacts were made or used, was somewhere not far from the Youth Hostel site, possibly just a little higher up the slope of the Verne in the areas now occupied by housing estates. The middens noticed by members of A.P.A.(6.8 above) were almost certainly of Late Palaeolithic date and were possibly associated with the people whose artefacts were found at the Youth Hostel, or at least, with people of roughly the same time. This makes it all the more regrettable that those middens could not be properly recorded and researched. The finding of artefacts of Late Palaeolithic aspect at the Verne, Portland Site,1 Culverwell , the Youth Hostel and elsewhere on Portland (Palmer, 1998) suggest that the distribution of activities associated with Late Palaeolithic people ranged quite widely over Portland and the group or groups of people of that time may have been fairly sizeable. The restricted typology of the artefacts of this period now known from Portland, suggest that the Late Palaeolithic people were mostly involved in hunting (possibly small animals, e.g. small deer) and then cutting and cleaning the skins with scrapers. Although they were probably mobile hunters and gatherers, the middens suggest that they sometimes did camp on Portland for at least short periods at a time while engaged in a particular activity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, J.T., Bowen, D.Q. and Kidson. 1979. Amino acid ratios and the correlation of raised beach deposits in south west England and Wales. Nature 281, 556-8. Davies, K. Headon and Keen, D.H. 1985. The age of Pleistocene marine deposits at Portland, Dorset. Proceedings of the Geological Association , 217-225. Keen, D.H. 1985. Late Pleistocene deposits and mollusca from Portland, Dorset. Geological Magazine, 122 (2), 181-186. Palmer, S. 1968. Upper Palaeolithic artefacts from Portland. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 89, 117-119. Palmer, S. 1969. A Mesolithic site at Portland Bill. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 90. 183-206. Palmer, S. 1971. Second Report on excavations at Portland Site 1, 1967 to 1968. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 92, 168-180. Palmer, S. 1998. Ancient Portland - Archaeology of the Isle. Portland. Palmer, S. 1999. Culverwell Mesolithic Habitation Site Isle of Portland, Dorset. Excavation Report and research studies. B.A.R. British Series 287. Oxford.
A pre development excavation was carried out in the grounds of the Youth Hostel Castletown in 2002 and found evidence of Late Palaeolithic tools . A report was published in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 2004 (125)
The details below are from an edited version of the report prepared for the Association's July 2003 newsletter
1. INTRODUCTION
The site is situated at SY 68507399 off Castle Road in Castletown near the northern end of the Island of Portland and has previously been known as Hardy House or the MOD Police Station. An archaeological evaluation of the terrain round the Youth Hostel was requested by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council as a condition for granting development permission.. A.P.A. volunteered to do the evaluation in order to help the YHA. The proposed development involves an extension of the existing building to the rear (east) of the building into the present garden The hostel is immediately adjacent to the Portland Hospital in the north. The site is situated on the lower slope of the Verne Hill and the ground of the hostel’s back garden rises quite steeply from approximately 19.86m to 24.54m OD. The foundation trenches for the development (as proposed in 2002) would have to be excavated into this slope. The grounds of the hospital had been extensively excavated during WW2 in order to create underground facilities for wounded and sick MOD personnel. Part of the huge spoil dump involved in this work is still in the grounds of the hospital, immediately adjacent the northern side of the fence between the hospital and the Youth Hostel. Prior to the commencement of the evaluation work, it was not known for certain whether the slope in the grounds of the Youth Hostel was completely natural or was at least in part due to soil overspill from the huge soil dump in the hospital ground. The archaeological field work was carried out in June 2002, by volunteers of the Association for Portland Archaeology. Part of the brief was to involve residents in the hostel and we had many enthusiastic people participating. We also had volunteers from the local community and for many their first experience of archaeology .
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT
The assessment and excavation work prior to development was undertaken in order to ascertain and record whether this area of the Verne slope contained any archaeological material. It was also necessary to ascertain whether the slope of the hostel grounds was natural or due to refuse earth discarded here during the digging of the underground hospital.
3. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE SITE
In the late 20th century when Hardy House was built, very few developers kept a record of archaeological remains found during the work. Vast quantities of Roman and Iron Age material had, however, been found in most areas of the Verne and all over the slopes (Palmer 1998). Roman burials have also been found during the building of the houses on the slopes of the hill (Palmer, ibid) immediately to the south of the Youth Hostel. During the building of these houses and structures at the top of the Verne, there was very little understanding of lithic material and any remains of the Pleistocene period, except amongst people with a specialist ‘antiquarian’ interest. One such a person was Captain George Clifton, the first governor of the Verne citadel, which is situated at the highest point of the Verne hill. In the course of quarrying operations and excavation work for the ditches of the citadel ’twelve cartloads’ of late Pleistocene mammalia bones were found (Damon, 1884; Palmer, 1998). All these remains were stored in boxes in the passage outside Capt. Clifton’s office but all were later discarded except for one mammoth tooth, now in the Natural History Museum in London. In 1967 the present author found in the British Museum reserve collections a box containing 19 chert artefacts and one of flint which had been found in the south ditch, apparently at the same time as the mammalia remains, and were also given to the Natural History Museum in 1889 by Capt. Clifton and were transferred to the British.Museum. in 1914 (Palmer, 1968; 1998). These artefacts included 4 tanged points with areas of blunting retouch, 7 convex end-scrapers on short flakes , one convex end-scraper on a short blade, one oval scraper made from a thick flake and with a scraper angle of about 80o , 1 point (awl?) with extensive inverse retouch, 1 blade 8 cms long with some fine retouch along both edges, 3 utilised chert flakes and one of flint, 1 unretouched waste flake of chert.. All these artefacts were of a Late Palaeolithic aspect and was characterised by bold retouch, often of a blunting character. Some still had particles of orange coloured loam attached to them. This has the same appearance as the loam which is found at the base of the archaeological deposits at the Culverwell site and Site 1 at the Bill (Palmer, 1999).
4. METHODOLOGY
A geophysical survey of the whole ground was carried out and any anomalies recorded. Trench 1 (1m2) was opened as an exploratory trench in a southern part of the garden furthest away from the fence between the hostel and the hospital. This was excavated in order to ascertain whether any part of the garden could still give an indication of the original soil profile prior to the 19th/20th century work in the plot of ground or adjacent it. The main trench (T2 measuring 10 x 2m) was opened central to the area of the geophysical survey and the proposed development and cut across the slope of the hill (Fig. 3). Four sondages of .3m width within this trench was hand-excavated into the natural loam (Layer 3) to a depth of about 30cms. Two smaller trenches (T 3 and T4, both measuring 2m2) on either side of T2 were opened to test whether the stratigraphy found in the first two trenches was consistent over the whole (or at least most) of the terrain. They were also within the areas studied by the geophysical survey. It was not possible to open a trench at the highest part of the garden (eastern end) as that area had to be kept available for campers. The trenches were all located by measurements taken from plans provided by the developer. The topsoil of all the trenches, except T1, was removed by a small digger to the top of the in situ yellow-brown clay. T1 was entirely hand excavated.
5. STRATIGRAPHICAL SEQUENCE
The stratigraphical sequence in all four of the trenches was identical but the thickness of the deposits varied slightly in the different trenches in accordance with the slope of the hill.. Table below illustrates this sequence in a representative section of Trench 2:
Layer 1 Topsoil -
Brown clayey loam with turf and recent material, average thickness 0.2m
Layer 2 Natural probably Early Holocene solifluction deposit
Yellow-brown clay with fine decayed limestone, average thickness 0.2m – 0.35m ,
Layer 3 Natural Late Pleistocene deposit
Pale yellow -orangey gritty loam with slatty pieces of limestone, sandy in some places, thickness not ascertainable.
6.GEOCHRONOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INTERPRETATIONS
The above sequence of deposits is similar to that found at the base of the archaeological layers in the excavations of the Mesolithic sites at Portland Site 1 (Bird Observatory) and Culverwell (Palmer , 1969, 1971 and 1999). Layer 2 was interpreted as clay which resulted in early Holocene times from the scouring of fresh water and fine rubble over the Pleistocene terrain of the Island. Other excavations carried out by the present author on Portland, appear to indicate that the clay accumulated only in low laying areas and gullies and contained debris derived from Pleistocene material, including mammalian remains as at the Verne and in Reforne (Palmer, 1998; 1999). The top of Layer 3, above, is an original freshwater Pleistocene land surface on which Late Palaeolithic people had a presence. As far as known at present, it is the earliest deposit on the Island to contain intrusive archaeological material. In areas where the clay (6.1 above) is absent, Mesolithic people were also active on this land surface and their tools became mixed with the remains of an earlier period, as at Culverwell (Palmer 1999, section 1.3). The stratigraphy of this loam can be studied in relationship to the early Raised Beach deposits which is clearly visible above the East and West Raised Beaches at the Bill and is there referred to as ‘Head’. The precise ages of these Beaches are still disputable and being researched but stages within the Middle to Late Pleistocene are indicated (Andrews, Bowen & Kidsdon, 1979; Davies & Keen, 1985; Keen, 1985). The West Beach is relatively the oldest of the two Beaches and has, cautiously, been referred to aminozones varying (according to different authors) between 4 -7. This means it is likely that the East Beach is much more recent, perhaps zone 3. There are, however, various problems associated with these dating zones, not least relating to the formation of the overlying deposits. Not all authorities are in full agreement with each other (Davies & Keen, op cit.). This problematical situation, relevant to the ‘Head’ above these Beaches was tentatively addressed in a study by Keene (1985). The yellow-orangey loam (Head) is a freshwater deposit but at the base contains abraded (derived) fragments of sea-water mollusca. It can, therefore, be deduced that the loam began to form during a period of lowering sea-levels and a fair degree of precipitation. These conditions could correspond to either the end of the arctic Older Dryas climatic phase or the Younger Dryas phase of the Late Pleistocene but there can as yet be no certainty as to which is relevant. The latter would fit in best with the data from the excavated early Holocene sites on Portland. The environment in the periglacial zone of southern England would have been one of fairly cold climate and the terrain one of ponds, marsh and grassland (Keen, op cit). The typology of the artefacts suggest that the Late Palaeolithic people probably arrived on Portland sometime after the end of the cold Younger Dryas period and during the early warm Preboreal c 10,500 years ago. A subsequent wetter climatic phase, possibly during the continental Boreal warm phase (when Mesolithic people began to arrive), caused streams of muddy water to scour the terrain and form the brown clay, referred to above 5. and 6.1. This clay incorporated derived material of Late Palaeolithic aspect in it as it flowed over the Portland terrain and accumulated in low-lying areas and in gullies as at Culverwell. It is possible that the above scenario was demonstrated in the geochronological position of two deposits of shell midden (with charcoal evidence) which was noticed in 1996 by the present author and other members of the Association for Portland Archaeology one evening during the roadworks on the slope of the Verne to widen New Road (Palmer, 1998, pg. 18, para 2). The two middens (one large, one small) were near each other and consisted of shell within deposits of dark clay with stone rubble about 5 metres below the present topsoil. As described, it was impossible to research that find properly at the time due to conditions of site visits imposed by the D.C.C. contractors and, unfortunately, by the next day the site was destroyed or completely covered with rubble. At the end of the 19th century Damon (1884) had mentioned a midden ‘with flint’ artefacts in the ‘top of glacial drift within the south-west glacis of the Verne adjacent the road to Fortuneswell’. It is possible that the middens noticed in 1996 may be the same (or part of the same) as noticed by Damon. These middens are likely to be of Pleistocene dating, as suggested by their stratigraphical position in the deposit exposures.
7. FEATURES
No man-made features were found in the excavated trenches. It was concluded that the anomalies suggested by the geophysical survey were due to natural irregularities. It appears from other experiences elsewhere on Portland, that geophysical research results are often difficult to interpret because of the shallowness of the topsoil and the nature of the bedrock.
8. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS AND DISCUSSION
A complete list of all the archaeological material found during the excavation of the Youth Hostel site is given in Table 1. They all appear to be of a Late Palaeolithic character. At both Site 1 and Culverwell some artefacts of a Late Palaeolithic aspect have been found but mixed in with artefacts from the predominantly Mesolithic assemblages. The first Mesolithic occupation occurred on top of the clay and loam described above. The Youth Hostel site is the only one so far examined on Portland which produced an assemblage of artefacts exclusively of a Late Palaeolithic aspect in association with contemporary natural deposits of the loam. It is suggested that finds in Layer 2 were derived by natural agencies from the context of in situ Layer 3, as discussed in 6.6 above Many of the artefacts found at the Youth Hostel site resembles some of the artefacts from the Verne (Palmer 1968) in typology and the boldness and steep angles of edge retouch. A blunting retouch is also quite prominent. Bulbar features in at least a third of the artefacts are either very limited or even completely absent and there are indications that these artefacts were made by edge retouching nodules of chert which were broken off from chert exposures by thermal action. This means that the Late Palaeolithic people utilized material which was lying around on the ground where they were sitting and that they did not bother to obtain their artefact material from primary sources, such as the beach or cliff exposures. This is a characteristic, which it is now realised with hind-sight, is also visible in several of the artefacts from the Verne (see e.g. Palmer, op cit Fig. 1 no. 1). When bulbar scars are present on the artefacts, they are often somewhat diffused, as though they have been abraded away. This characteristic could possibly be explained by an assumption that these artefacts were slowly moved within clay from higher ground (i.e. nearer to the top of the Verne) over rough terrain to the positions where they were ultimately found This abraded condition of the artefacts suggest strongly that they were not made directly on the Youth Hostel site. The relatively high number of artefacts found, suggest that the knapping site, or activity site where they were used, could not have been too far away as all the artefacts would have been much more severely abraded if they had been moved a great distance. The finding of two conjoining flakes from Trench 2 on the top of Layer 2 could suggest that at least some of the artefacts on the site were made there. These differing degrees of abrasion could indicate that possibly more than one original activity area was involved. The majority of artefacts in the collected assemblage are scrapers. These include convex scrapers (the majority), concave scrapers, some concave-convex , a few steep scrapers on thick or chunky pieces of chert and a small number of end and side scrapers. The next most common artefacts are awls or flakes with limited edge retouch which could have been used for cutting purposes. Only a few points are present and they are mostly broken.
Finds other than lithic.
One small sherd from a black Roman pot was found in the top of Layer 2 of Trench 2. This indicates that there was an element of later intrusion into the early archaeological layers. There was no indication as to the nature of this intrusion. Two small pieces of shale were also found in the same context. One small item each from Trench 3 Layer 2 and Trench 4 Layer 2 appears to be parts of the hinge of a shell.
The following is a summary of the finds:
A total of 263 lithic pieces were found. Primary flakes with bulbar scars only predominate (132); scrapers 47; flakes with limited edge retouch 52 of which 15 were on thermally fractured flakes; scrapers 47; awls 5; 9 points; 5 flakes with blunting retouch; fabricator 1; knife 1; burin 1. Three hammerstones were found as well as 4 beach pebbles which had been imported from the beach. Two flakes from Trench 1 were found to be conjoining. Only one Roman potsherd was found.
9. CONCLUSIONS
The Youth Hostel site is important academically as it provides some clarification of the situation found on the excavated two Mesolithic sites on the Island, i.e. the presence of artefacts of Late Palaeolithic aspect within artefactual deposits and features which are otherwise predominantly Mesolithic. The YH site also provides a small degree of clarification as to the possible geochronological relationship of the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic occupation of Portland and indicates a situation which should be kept in mind for further future research. The camping or activity area where the Late Palaeolithic artefacts were made or used, was somewhere not far from the Youth Hostel site, possibly just a little higher up the slope of the Verne in the areas now occupied by housing estates. The middens noticed by members of A.P.A.(6.8 above) were almost certainly of Late Palaeolithic date and were possibly associated with the people whose artefacts were found at the Youth Hostel, or at least, with people of roughly the same time. This makes it all the more regrettable that those middens could not be properly recorded and researched. The finding of artefacts of Late Palaeolithic aspect at the Verne, Portland Site,1 Culverwell , the Youth Hostel and elsewhere on Portland (Palmer, 1998) suggest that the distribution of activities associated with Late Palaeolithic people ranged quite widely over Portland and the group or groups of people of that time may have been fairly sizeable. The restricted typology of the artefacts of this period now known from Portland, suggest that the Late Palaeolithic people were mostly involved in hunting (possibly small animals, e.g. small deer) and then cutting and cleaning the skins with scrapers. Although they were probably mobile hunters and gatherers, the middens suggest that they sometimes did camp on Portland for at least short periods at a time while engaged in a particular activity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, J.T., Bowen, D.Q. and Kidson. 1979. Amino acid ratios and the correlation of raised beach deposits in south west England and Wales. Nature 281, 556-8. Davies, K. Headon and Keen, D.H. 1985. The age of Pleistocene marine deposits at Portland, Dorset. Proceedings of the Geological Association , 217-225. Keen, D.H. 1985. Late Pleistocene deposits and mollusca from Portland, Dorset. Geological Magazine, 122 (2), 181-186. Palmer, S. 1968. Upper Palaeolithic artefacts from Portland. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 89, 117-119. Palmer, S. 1969. A Mesolithic site at Portland Bill. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 90. 183-206. Palmer, S. 1971. Second Report on excavations at Portland Site 1, 1967 to 1968. Proceedings Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 92, 168-180. Palmer, S. 1998. Ancient Portland - Archaeology of the Isle. Portland. Palmer, S. 1999. Culverwell Mesolithic Habitation Site Isle of Portland, Dorset. Excavation Report and research studies. B.A.R. British Series 287. Oxford.
