What did Archaeologists find at Must Farm?
Must Farm has the largest, and finest, collection of textiles from the British Bronze Age. These extremely delicate objects were preserved by the unique combination of charring and water logging resulting from the destruction of the settlement.
Why did the Must Farm Bronze Age settlement preserve so well?
As the material lay on the riverbed it was covered with layers of non-porous silt which helped to preserve everything from wooden utensils to textiles. It is this degree of preservation which makes the site fascinating and gives us an unprecedented insight into life during the Bronze Age.
Did the Bronze Age farm?
Agriculture benefited from bronze ploughs which were more efficient than earlier wooden ones. Bronze axes cleared forests and increased the land available for growing crops and grazing animals. Irrigation helped make farming more productive and dry stone walls marked field boundaries.
Where is Britain's Pompeii?
CambridgeshireThe level of preservation at the site, in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, has been compared to that seen at Pompeii, a Roman city buried by ash when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.
What was found at Must Farm?
In the summer of 1999, decaying timbers were discovered protruding from the southern face of the quarry pit at Must Farm. Subsequent investigations in 2004 and 2006 dated the timbers to the Bronze Age and identified them as a succession of large structures spanning an ancient watercourse.
Can you visit must farm?
The Must Farm Timber Platform Project is an excavation running from September 2015 to April 2016. As the site is situated in a working quarry we are unable to accept general visitors, volunteers or host a public open day. There are opportunities for local interest groups to visit the site by appointment.
What are 10 facts about the Bronze Age?
Top 10 Facts About The Bronze AgeThe Bronze age was between 4000BC and 2000BC. ... The Bronze Age was in the middle of the Stone Age and the Iron Age. ... People used bronze to make weapons and tools. ... Metals were found by people mining for them. ... The wheel was invented! ... The first forms of writing started.More items...•
How do people lived in Bronze Age?
During the Bronze Age, many people crossed the sea from mainland Europe to Britain. They travelled in long wooden boats rowed by oarsmen. The boats carried people, animals and trading goods. They were loaded with metal from mines, precious swords, pots and jewellery.
How did the Bronze Age cook their food?
During the Bronze Age cooking generally took place on an open hearth with a type of pottery called Grooved Ware. Hot stones were often used as 'pot boilers' - heated up on the fire then dropped into the clay cooking pots. Earth ovens were also common, situated inside round houses around the central fire.
Who lived in Britain during the Iron Age?
The Belgae were a large tribal confederation from northern Gaul, who settled in southern Britain around the 1st century BC. Their territory covered parts of modern Hampshire, centred on the Roman site of Venta Belgarum (modern Winchester).
Why do some archaeologists refer to the Must Farm site as the British Pompeii?
The discovery is also being described as "the British Pompeii" because the site is so perfectly preserved. According to CNN, the settlement was actually destroyed by a fire 3,000 years ago.
When did the Bronze Age begin in Britain?
around 2200 BCBronze Age Britain Initially items were made from copper, then from around 2200 BC bronze (which is harder than copper) was made by mixing copper with tin. Bronze gradually replaced stone as the main material for tools and by 2200 BC the period known as the Early Bronze Age had begun in the Britain.
What kind of houses did people live in during the Bronze Age?
roundhousesBronze Age Houses Bronze Age roundhouses were circular structures with a wattle (woven wood) and daub (mud and straw) wall or a dry stone wall. Some houses had to be built on stilts as they were constructed on wetlands.
What were Bronze Age houses made of?
The Bronze Age houses was made out of wood, stone filled with wattle, woven wood and daub which is a mixture of mud and straw. In the Bronze Age they had to take care of the jewellery while they was building. What food did they eat in the Bronze Age? Sheep meat.
What tools were used in the Bronze Age?
Bronze tools and weapons, often interchangeable, included axes, swords, knives, daggers, spearheads, razors, gouges, helmets, cauldrons, buckets, horns and many other useful objects.
What were Iron Age houses made of?
These were simple one-roomed homes with a pointed thatched roof and walls made from wattle and daub (a mixture of mud and twigs). In the centre of a round house was a fire where meals were cooked in a cauldron. Around the walls were jars for storing food and beds made from straw covered with animal skins.
Where did Must Farm “Fit”?
This was a period of rising sea levels and encroachment of lands which had previously been dry. We are seeing a community which is adapted to life at the fen edge – with access to wood, crops and animals from dry land, but making skilled use of the neighbouring waterways.
When were decaying timbers discovered?
In 1999 decaying timbers were discovered protruding from the southern face of the brick pit at Must Farm. Investigations in 2004 and 2006 dated the timbers to the Bronze Age and identified them as a succession of large structures spanning an ancient watercourse.
Why is Must Farm Important?
It is the depth and waterlogged nature of the site which make Must Farm so important. Objects which would normally have decayed or have been destroyed by agriculture and subsequent development have lain undisturbed.
How were the delicate objects preserved?
These extremely delicate objects were preserved by the unique combination of charring and water logging resulting from the destruction of the settlement.
What was the cause of the excavation of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit?
The site was exposed as a result of the extraction of clay for brick production by Forterra (formerly London Brick and then Hanson). The excavations undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit have been funded by Forterra and Historic England.
When was Must Farm built?
The settlement was built on a platform on piles over a river channel and dates back to the end of the Bronze Age (1000-800 BC). The piles were destroyed by fire, causing the structure to collapse into the river, thereby preserving the contents in situ. As work progresses, we are making extraordinary discoveries and learning more and more about this unique site.
When was the Must Farm excavation?
The excavation of the Must Farm settlement was carried out between August 2015 and August 2016. Take a look at our diary entries documenting the excavation process. ...read more
Bronze Age Settlement
Thanks to funding from Historic England and Forterra, in August 2015 we began a new project – Bronze Age Settlement. T his was a 10-month excavation of a settlement at the site that was destroyed by fire, causing it to collapse into a river channel, preserving the contents in situ.
Bronze Age River
In 2011 the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Forterra, began to unearth a series of extraordinary finds. What we found, what we learnt and what we know about the history, geology and archaeology of the area, can be explored in Bronze Age River.
What is the must farm?
The Must Farm timber platform, finds from which have been widely publicised, was a Late Bronze Age settlement, standing in a wetland on timber piles. It was destroyed by a catastrophic fire at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC and its remains were preserved by slow-forming river sediments; they now lie some 3m below the surface ...
Why did people settle on the Thames?
The reasons for the development of such settlements are complex, but access to a river as the means by which bronzes (as well as other commodities) could be traded along exchange networks was almost certainly a major draw for communities. For example, access to these networks and the need to control watercourses is often cited as the principal reason why occupation began to take hold at this time on eyots and islands in the Thames, including sites such as Runnymede Bridge (Needham 1991) and Wallingford (Cromarty et al 2006). Owing to their low-lying nature, these sites appear to be unlikely choices for settlement, yet they were the context for intense periods of activity, judging by the wealth of finds they produced.
What was the catalyst for the construction of the major timber edifices, including long causeways and raised?
Evidently, the ever-increasing saturation of the Flag Fen Basin was the catalyst for the construction of the major timber edifices, including long causeways and raised settlements, which have been found at Flag Fen and Must Farm. It is this saturation that has also helped ensure the structures were preserved.
Where is the Must Farm brick pit?
It is situated at the southern edge of the Must Farm brick pit, an active quarry located at the western end of the Fenland market town of Whittlesey. The platform originally stood on a watercourse in the Flag Fen Basin, which is a small embayment on the western edge of the Fens, close to where the River Nene emerges from ...
What structural components survived the conflagration?
The conflagration that destroyed the site was all-consuming, but remarkably, major structural components such as collapsed roof and wall timbers have survived in partial articulation. As a result, the interiors of individual houses have retained many of their original fixtures and fittings (charred furniture, whole pots with food inside them, carbonised textiles) only slightly removed from their original positions.
Is Flag Fen a Bronze Age settlement?
The sheer intensity of activity across the former embayment, combined with the exceptional character of its archaeology, has led a widely-accepted picture to develop in which the Flag Fen Basin was a Bronze Age cult-centre – a place distinct from the ‘everyday’ settlement patterns observed elsewhere (Harding & Healy 2007).
