The Stone Age Industries of the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and the Utilization of Portland Chert as Artifact Material in Southern England

Abstract

It is now nearly 20 years since the late W. F. Rankine first drew attention to the use of Portland Chert as prehistoric material (Rankine, 1951). He mapped the distribution of such artifacts in southern England, as known to him. No attempt was made to differentiate between artifacts of different cultural affinities or periods. Also, when he wrote, hardly anything was known of the prehistory of the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and of the immediate neighbourhood where the chert occurs in natural form.During the past few years rich stone age habitation sites and workfloors have been found on the Island and along the landward shore of the Fleet nearby (Palmer, 1963–1968). Research is continuing in the area. This lends far greater importance to the question of the distribution of Portland Chert artifacts.The present paper will assess the significance and scope of the distribution of Portland Chert artifacts in relationship to the industries in the Portland area. Investigations in the field and in numerous museums and private collections have greatly lengthened Rankine's original list of Portland Chert artifacts. It is likely that even now numerous specimens in other collections have not been traced, and that the distribution of these artifacts is even wider than suggested by the present list (Appendix A).