* The details of the site and its significance can only be summarised in this page. Full details are given in the lengthy excavation report, listed in Bibliography.

The Culverwell site is situated near the southern tip of the Isle of Portland , Dorset, and is connected to Weymouth by the Chesil Beach (see Environment) . It is reached from Weymouth by following the signs for Portland Bill. and is on the right side of the road, shortly after the village of Southwell. It is on the slope of a gentle hill, covered since medieval times by step-like field systems, known as lynchets. The stream of Culver Well is best visible about 200m further west from the site, on the same side of the road.

The site was discovered in 1966 by Susann Palmer when the molluscs showed up during deep ploughing.

Excavation of the site started in 1967 and continued for the next 30 years under the direction of Susann. (Contacts).

Importance: The Culverwell site has world wide importance.

* It is the oldest known site in England where there is possible evidence for
sedentary, or at least semi-sedentary, occupation all the year round. The
oxygen isotope analysis of molluscs from the site indicates that most were
collected in autumn to winter. Taking the climate of Portland into
consideration, there was no need for seasonal nomadic
movement.

*The diversity of the features on the site and their apparent orderly
arrangement provides a compelling need for a complete rethink about the Mesolithic people and their life-style. They were not just aimless beach combers.

*The floor provides the first known evidence in England for the use of Portland
stone for building purposes.

*The site provides some evidence for ritual or 'religious thinking', i.e. there was
probably also a spiritual side to the life on the site.

Date: The site has been dated between 8,000 and 8,300 years old by a series of calculations obtained from charcoal and mollusc samples.

Features of the site:

Many interesting features have been discovered on the site. It has not been possible to preserve all of these in such a way that they are now visible to the site visitors.

All the other features have been preserved for posterity by covering them, firstly, with protective sheets of geosynthetic fabric and then gravel or earth back-fill on top of that. All the trenches which were excavated, are marked out on the site with notice boards.

By exploring the view of the site below with the mouse, the visitor can see where all the features were, including those which have been backfilled.

NORTH

SOUTH

1. GULLY This is a natural gully running north to south, averaging about 3.5m wide and 1m deep. It cuts through the yellow rubbly loam and clay which underlies the site. The gully was best visible in the excavation of the westernmost trenches of the site and sections of it can still be seen. It was probably formed by streams of water outflowing from melting glaciers in northern England at the end of the last glacial epoch. It is known that there are similar gullies on Portland in the Verne area, one of which contained remains of Ice Age animals such as woolly mammoths and reindeer.

Trench 32 Gully

2. SHELL MIDDEN The whole site is covered by a large midden (rubbish dump). This lies partly within the gully and is about a metre deep at its deepest point in the gully. It becomes shallower towards the periphery of the site.

It consists mainly of limpets, top shells, winkles, dog whelk and other molluscs, tools and waste material of chert, all in a matrix of clayey loam mixed with charcoal.

Shell Midden directly under the floor

3. THE STONE FLOOR The 'floor' or platform is made of fairly flat slabs of limestone and lies directly on top of the central area of the shell midden. It has an average width of 3.6m and is about 31m long, as far as known, giving an area of no less than 113 sq m. The southern end of the floor could not be determined because of the presence of the road. The sides of the floor are relatively straight, except in three places where there are slight deviations and which may represent different phases in the extension of the floor.

In the northernmost area of the site, the floor lies directly on natural yellow loam and it is probably here where the first settlement took place, before the gully had filled up with rubbish.

This feature displays great ingenuity on the part of the site occupants. The porous nature of the shell debris, lying in a gully, would have acted as an excellent drainage system for rainwater coming down the hill and would have kept the structures on top of the midden dry.

Stone Floor

4. A WINDBREAK. In the southern area of the floor (as excavated) there is the remains of a low wall made with fairly large irregularly shaped stones. This lies at a right angle to the floor and this too appears to have been constructed in three stages. It could have acted as a wind-break to the site against winds coming from the sea.

At one point underneath this wall, the remains of a small semi-circular stone feature was discovered.

The whole of the windbreak and associated features have been covered over but its position is marked by a board.

5. & 6. HEARTHS. Four hearths have been found, all on the eastern side of the floor, all in a shallow depression within the natural clay under the midden. They are all sited to be away from the prevailing wind, so that the smoke would have blown away from people sitting on the floor. Hearth 1 has been preserved in situ under the split-log shelter. The clay in the bottom had been severely burnt. The samples for the first radio-carbon dates for the site came from here. A large number of choppers, chopping-tools, pounders and picks were found lying round this hearth (see artefacts).

Hearth No 4, was adjacent the north-eastern end of the floor, now in the field immediately northwards from the protected part of the site. It was the biggest one found on site and was contained in a shallow depression scooped out in the edge of the gully. Next to it was a small paved area of flat stone slabs and near this was a pile of 11 picks in various stages of completion.

7. PIT. About 6.5m east of the edge of the floor is a round pit excavated into the hard natural rubbly loam of the original landsurface. It is about a meter in diameter and the same in depth. One post hole was next to the top edge, in an area of brown clay. It was full of shell and artefact debris when excavated. At the bottom several large slabs of limestone were found.

This pit could have served two functions. In wet weather it would have filled up with water, which could have been stored in that manner so that the site occupants did not have to go and fetch water (in skin bags) every day from the nearby spring.

The pit could also have served as a cooking pit, using indirect heating methods. By throwing hot stones into the water, bags of food suspended over the water - or even submerged into it - could have been brought to the boil. When the pit was dry, food wrapped in leaves or sea-weed could have been cooked lying on the stones at the bottom.

8. POST HOLES. A number of post-holes have been found on the site, a few of which were concentrated on the western side of the floor and were within the gully, immediately adjacent the floor. None of the concentrations could with any certainty be related to a shelter or hut on the floor (see structures). The post-holes by the hearths and the pit were probably associated with cooking activities or maybe even drying out food or clothing.

9. 'RITUAL FEATURE' The floor appears to have been constructed in at least three phases, marked by a slight change in the direction of the edge of the floor. The beginning of each phase was also marked by a larger than average stone. One of these stones (in the preserved area of the floor, visible to visitors) also had a large smooth oval cobble immediately adjacent the big, roughly triangular stone. When the big stone was lifted, it was noticed that a small, stone-lined hole had been made into the midden deposit underneath it. When this feature was excavated, the hole was found to contain a pierced scallop shell, an axe of chert and a small round pebble, placed on its edge into the midden.

This may have been an offering in the nature of a 'foundation deposit' or as an expression of some or other religious thought to benefit the site occupants.
(Spiritual Life)