By Kim Berlin

July marks the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology and our wonderful Portland Museum is joining in with their Nature Unearthed event on July 29 and 30, when the buildings and garden will become a ‘living archaeology’ experience from 10.30am-3.30pm.

Weavers and dyers will give visitors the opportunity to handle and learn about the materials used on Portland, and in wider Dorset, in prehistory; microscopes will allow the textures of bone and flints to be seen in extraordinary detail, whilst touch tables will allow people to get closer than ever to curated displays normally viewed through glass.

Children will earn badges as they sift through the secrets that are woven into Portland’s landscape. Bugs, Bones and Botany are also on offer at Portland Museum as Jade Clark will take you on a Forest School forensic journey into archaeology, ecology and anatomy – unmissable!

I am extremely proud of our island museum. There are bigger museums with far less impressive collections.

It charts life from the Jurassic fossil record through to the last century in one of the oldest buildings on the island that was once home to women’s rights campaigner Dr Marie Stopes (who gave the building to the island for this purpose) and frequently visited by her friend, the novelist Thomas Hardy, who used the cottage as the home of his character Avice Caro in his controversial twice-written novel, The Well-Beloved and The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved.

Portland’s archaeological record is extensive; hardly surprising as this limestone slab juts four miles out to sea, commanding approaches both east and west along the south coast of England.

Astonishing collections at Portland Museum

Archaeological finds that have been made include from the Mesolithic stone age through to mediaeval times, and they tell the story of people established on the island in complex communities with evidence of trade far from these shores.

A personal favourite is the tiny Roman duck brooch made of enamelled silver. It is delicate and complete. Dated to the late first to early second century CE it is an extraordinary and beautiful connection with our shared past.
Who owned it and wore it? Was it a gift to a loved one? We will never know. The Romans and other cultures traded in this land before the invasion of 79AD. Did it arrive before or after the invasion?

The burial of a young Iron Age woman nearby from the late Iron Age to Early Roman period found that she had the bones of a chicken clutched to her chest postmortem. The chicken bones show no signs of butchery and these birds were rare signals of status in those times. Most probably it was a valued pet, sent to the afterlife with her. Nearby the bones of a cat were also interred. DNA analysis has shown that both animals had the same DNA profile as animals found in Rome in the same period.

I think this is the most intriguing thing about archaeology. It is detective work, but often only parts of the picture can be seen – the rest may be discerned with academic certainty or lost forever, but these fragments are compelling and a fragment here may link to something else far away, colouring in another piece of the picture in time.

A section of a broken bronze age sword, charred wheat grains from a burial, cremation ash urns, bronze age fired ‘kitchenware’, Roman sarcophagi… and this is covering just some of the early human history of the island that is on display at the museum.

Portland Museum is open Sat-Weds 10.30am-4pm. Shipwrecks and smuggling, wars and peace, industry and leisure; the story of an island and its people is here in a picture postcard setting. With some of the finest coastal views in England less than two minutes’ walk away, how could you not come? I’ll see you there!

Nature Unearthed entry is £2.50, or £1 for children.

General opening times are Saturday to Wednesday 10.30am to 4pm. Adults £5 children £1. Portland residents have free admission.

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• Dorset Council face fresh legal action over Bibby Stockholm