Must Farm Bronze Age settlement Part of a Bronze Age settlement was uncovered at Must Farm quarry, at Whittlesey, near Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, England.
Full Answer
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.
What did they find at Must Farm?
The settlement yielded the largest assemblage of domestic metalwork from Britain, including axes, sickles, gouges and razors. Metalwork from the Bronze Age is rarely found associated with settlement, so these artefacts are particularly important in the study of household inventories.
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 is the oldest archaeological site in the UK?
Danebury (Iron Age)
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.
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 is the oldest artifact found in the UK?
The stone tools were unearthed from sediments that are thought to have been laid down either 840,000 or 950,000 years ago, making them the oldest human artefacts ever found in Britain.
What is the oldest historical site in England?
1) Edinburgh Castle, Scotland Built around the 12th century, Edinburgh Castle is one of the oldest historical places in the United Kingdom.
What is the greatest archaeological discovery of all time?
Top ten archaeological discoveriesPompeii. After a devastating volcanic eruption of Mt. ... Tutankhamun's tomb. The great Tutankhamun owes his fame to Howard Carter and George Herbert's discovery of his tomb in 1922. ... Rosetta Stone. ... Terracotta Army. ... Richard III's grave. ... Olduvai Gorge. ... Cave of Altamira. ... Dead Sea Scrolls.More items...
What is the oldest ruin in England?
Before 500 BCBuildingLocationDate builtTomb of the EaglesSouth Ronaldsay, Orkney, Scotland3150 BCSkara BraeBay of Skaill, Mainland Orkney, Scotland3100 BCUnstan Chambered CairnStenness, Mainland Orkney, Scotland3400–2800 BCBelas KnapWinchcombe, Gloucestershire, England, UK3000 BC6 more rows
What is older than Gobekli Tepe?
Discoveries at Boncuklu Tarla in southeastern Mardin are around 1,000 years older than those in Gobeklitepe, says professor. The latest archeologic excavations in southeastern Turkey discovered an ancient site older than Gobeklitepe, known as the oldest temple in the world, according to a Turkish university rector.
What is the oldest artifact found on Earth?
The stone tools unearthed at Lomekwi 3, an archaeological site in Kenya, are the oldest artifacts in the world. These stone tools are about 3.3 million years old, long before Homo sapiens (humans) showed up.
Who were the first humans in Britain?
Homo heidelbergensis Tall and imposing, this early human species is the first for whom we have fossil evidence in Britain: a leg bone and two teeth found at Boxgrove in West Sussex. Living here about 500,000 years ago these people skilfully butchered large animals, leaving behind many horse, deer and rhinoceros bones.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 is the significance of the Flag Fen Basin?
The site’s relationship to the Flag Fen Basin is crucial as this small area has already generated a series of internationally important Bronze Age discoveries. These have included such features as the Fengate field systems, the Flag Fen post alignment, and the Flag Fen platform, as well large quantities of later Bronze Age metalwork (Pryor 2001).
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).
What animal was found at Must Farm?
Some of the plant and animal remains found at Must Farm are rare for this period in British prehistory, including pike bones, sheep/goat dung, and currently unidentified entire charred tubers. Strikingly, most of the food sources, including wild boar and deer, are not from the wetlands.
What is a must farm?
Must Farm represents a routine dwelling in a rarely excavated fenland setting, which is incredibly valuable. It shows the typical patterns of consumption and deposition for this kind of site.
Who owns the Must Farm quarry?
The major excavation was funded by Historic England and Forterra Building Products Ltd, which owns the Must Farm quarry.
What were the objects that were preserved in the fluvial silts?
A tragedy for the inhabitants, but serendipitous for archaeologists, as the fluvial silts have preserved ‘wooden artefacts, pottery sets, bronze tools and weapons, fabrics and fibres, querns, loom weights, spindle whorls, animal remains, plants and seeds, coprolites…’
How long was the Bronze Age settlement inhabited?
Now, archaeologists have made another startling discovery – the Bronze Age settlement was only inhabited for about a year before it fell in a catastrophic fire.
What caused the abandonment of the Bronze Age settlement?
The Sudden Abandonment of the Bronze Age Settlement. Archaeologists are certain that the Bronze Age settlement at Must Farm was destroyed by a catastrophic fire . Knight told Ancient Origins, “There are many hypotheses about what caused the fire (whether it was deliberate or an accident) – currently our fire investigator suggests that the origin ...
What did the fluvial silts preserve?
The press release for the article in Antiquity states that the fire was “A tragedy for the inhabitants, but lucky for archaeologists, as the fluvial silts have preserved ‘wooden artefacts, pottery sets, bronze tools and weapons, fabrics and fibres , querns, loom weights, spindle whorls, animal remains, plants and seeds, coprolites …”
What was found at Must Farm?
As Knight mentions, there are numerous finds that have been made at Must Farm since the first discoveries of a rapier and sword there in 1969. Ancient Origins has also reported on previous finds such as vitrified food found in jars , household and personal items such as textiles and jewelry , and a wooden wheel .
Why were burial grounds unrelated to the fire?
But it seems these were unrelated to the fire because, as Knight explained, “The majority were unburnt and associated with occupation deposits. Precedent suggests it was common at the end of the Bronze Age for parts of skeletons to be deposited in and around habitation sites (ancestors shared the same spaces as the living). Formal burial grounds are all but absent at this time in prehistory.”
How many people lived at Must Farm?
Knight told Ancient Origins that it is estimated between 50 to 80 people may have been inhabiting the site when it burned. However, the only evidence of human remains found at Must Farm to date amount to the following: “A few pieces of human bone were found in around the footprints of the structures (one skull, two skull fragments, a tooth and lumber vertebra; representing a minimum of two individuals).”
What are the excavations at British sites?
Excavations at British sites are Revolutionizing Prehistoric Studies and Revealing Secrets of the Past. Excavation of the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement, showing the main body of the collapsed settlement (looking east) in its river silt matrix. (D. Webb)
Where was the Bronze Age?
Its destruction by a catastrophic fire has provided an exceptional opportunity to investigate how people inhabited and affected their world in the final decades of the Bronze Age in Britain. The soft, waterlogged fluvial silts have preserved extensive structural remains and diverse material culture, including delicate organics, such as textiles and foodstuffs. These are the most completely preserved prehistoric domestic structures found in Britain, and are comparable to the lake-dwellings of the Circum-Alpine region in terms of their architectural detail, material diversity and spatial-temporal definition.
What is the must farm site?
At the Must Farm site, the superstructure's untimely and catastrophic demise means that we are able to investigate the undisturbed remnants of an active, functioning pile-dwelling settlement ( Figure 6 ). Its foreshortened life span ensured an absence of later superimposition; as a result, the settlement's brevity is matched by its stratigraphic simplicity. In effect, the entirety of the pile-dwelling settlement is encapsulated in two layers—one representing its construction, the other its demise—with material representing settlement use sandwiched between and amongst the two. Most importantly, the rapid and catastrophic nature of the site's demise has preserved significant elements of the settlement's architectural and spatial organisation. The timber skeletons of individual structures, with fans of subsided rafters and joists, and reoccurring patterns of material culture, suggest that the collapse occurred more or less vertically, with the falling, heavy roof structures bringing everything down with them into the base of the channel.
When was the Palaeochannel built?
Dating to 1700–100 BC, the palaeochannel was active throughout the construction and use of the adjacent Fengate and Bradley Fen field systems, the Flag Fen post-alignments and the Iron Age settlements of King's Dyke, Bradley Fen and Cat's Water (Pryor. Reference Pryor. 2001; Evans et al.
What is the significance of the thin stratigraphy, architectural clarity and highly structured artefactual and biological assemblage?
The settlement's limited life span is most vividly expressed by the close stratigraphic relationship between the woodchips from construction and the collapsed, charred structural remains of its demise, with the latter resting more or less directly on top of the former.
What is open area excavation?
An open-area excavation strategy was adopted to reveal the spatial distribution of structures, artefacts and ecofacts within and around the palisaded enclosure in full. A temporary shelter was constructed to ensure controlled conditions for excavation of the anticipated delicate organic remains and intricate contextual detail. Within this shelter, careful single-context hand excavation of the channel silts was undertaken using a 1m 2 sampling grid, with small- and large-scale temporary baulks employed to investigate contextual relationships. This work uncovered the condensed stratigraphy of the settlement: the collapsed timber superstructure overlying a horizon of fire-damaged material deposited directly onto the settlement's formative middens (created during the brief life of the settlement) and construction debris.
What is the material culture of the pile dwellings?
Overall, the inventory of material culture associated with the pile-dwellings consists of hundreds of Late Bronze Age items, including over 180 fibre/textile items (categorised as fibre, textile, twinning and knotted net), 160 wooden artefacts (including bobbins, containers, withies, furniture or fittings, hafts and vehicle parts), 120 pottery vessels, 90 pieces of metalwork and at least 80 glass beads ( Figure 10 ). Notwithstanding this impressive list, the number of loom weights (ten), spindle whorls (eight) and saddle querns (six) appeared to be proportionate to the scale and timeframe of the site, implying that the overall assemblage of material culture was also in proportion to the short-lived settlement.
How many stilted structures were there in the Pile dwelling?
In plan, the remains of the settlement consisted of hundreds of uprights or pile stumps, which together define the outline and internal settings of at least five stilted structures (structures 1–5) enclosed within a 49.3m-long, curvilinear palisade with an internal walkway ( Figure 5 ).
