What is Must Farm? At the Must Farm excavation site between Peterborough and Whittlesey archaeologists have uncovered one of the best preserved settlements dating to the Late Bronze Age (1000 – 800BC). Initial excitement was generated by the discovery of log boats, fish traps and a wooden platform.
Full Answer
Is there a Bronze Age settlement at Must Farm?
Thanks to funding from Historic England and Forterra, in August 2015 we were able to continue the work begun in Bronze Age River, and start investigating a settlement at Must Farm. 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).
What was the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement?
Recent excavations near Whittlesey in eastern England have uncovered a Late Bronze Age (1100–800 cal BC) occupation site, comprising wooden structures built over a freshwater palaeochannel—the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement ( Figure 1 ).
When were the Timbers at Must Farm 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.
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.
How old is must farm?
What is Must Farm? At the Must Farm excavation site between Peterborough and Whittlesey archaeologists have uncovered one of the best preserved settlements dating to the Late Bronze Age (1000 – 800BC). Initial excitement was generated by the discovery of log boats, fish traps and a wooden platform.
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.
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.
How much of Pompeii is original?
But what visitors often don't realize is that only two thirds (44 hectares) of ancient Pompeii have been excavated. The rest -- 22 hectares -- are still covered in debris from the eruption almost 2,000 years ago.
How did they find Pompeii?
The archaeological site was first discovered in 1549, when an Italian named Domenico Fontana dug a water channel through Pompeii, but the dead city was left entombed. Within a century, the age of royal treasure hunting and piracy swept through the ancient city.
Who discovered Pompeii in 1748?
of important objects in three dimensions and making detailed plans of architectural remains laid the foundations for the indispensable procedures of modern archaeology. De Alcubierre shifted his focus to Pompeii, which had just been (re)discovered in 1748.
When was Pompeii found?
Ancient Roman Life Preserved at Pompeii | National Geographic. When Mount Vesuvius erupted cataclysmically in the summer of A.D. 79, the nearby Roman town of Pompeii was buried under several feet of ash and rock. The ruined city remained frozen in time until it was discovered by a surveying engineer in 1748.
How many roundhouses were found in the Bronze Age?
Historic England funded a £1.1 million project to excavate the site to gain as much knowledge of Bronze Age life in Britain as possible. Archaeologists found two roundhouses, from about 1000–800 BCE, and concluded that they were damaged by fire and that the platform on which they sat then slid into the river, where the fire was extinguished and the buildings and objects within them were preserved in the silt. About half of the settlement is thought to have been lost due to modern-day quarrying.
Where was the Bronze Age settlement of Pompeii?
www .mustfarm .com. Part of a Bronze Age settlement was uncovered at Must Farm quarry, at Whittlesey, near Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, England. The site has been described as "Britain's Pompeii " due to its relatively good condition, including the "best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found" there, which all appear to have been abandoned ...
How long have boats been around?
Radiocarbon dating has indicated that the ages of these boats spanned a period of about 1,000 years, with the earliest examples dating to around 1750–1650 BCE. Some of the boats may have been deliberately sunk.
What is Must Farm?
Must Farm was named Best Archaeological Project and Best Archaeological Discovery at the 2012 British Archaeological Awards, and Best Discovery at the 2016 Awards. An article describing the settlement won the Antiquity Prize 2020.
When were wooden posts discovered?
Wooden posts were first recognised there in 1999, leading to preliminary excavations in 2004 and 2006. Early finds at the site include a rapier and a sword in 1969. Between 2011 and 2012, eight Bronze Age log boats were discovered. The boats were found in a small freshwater palaeochannel and were preserved due to waterlogging.
When was the wheel found?
The specimen, dating from 1,100–800 years BCE, represents the most complete and earliest of its type found in Britain. The wheel's hub is also present. A horse's spine found nearby suggests the wheel may have been part of a horse-drawn cart.
Is the Coprolites site reburied?
As of August 2016. [update] , the archaeology had been removed and the site reburied to be left sealed. In 2019 researchers at Cambridge and Bristol universities revealed the results of a study of human and dog coprolites found at the site.
What was discovered in the Bronze Age?
Excavation has revealed some of the most extraordinary Late Bronze Age archaeology ever discovered in Europe, with many unparalleled finds including textiles, wooden artefacts and metalwork. The settlement appeared to be the dwelling place of a number of families and the material left behind gives us an amazing insight into the everyday lives of people in the Fens, 3000 years ago.
What is the must farm?
The Must Farm Settlement excavation is an ongoing project being carried out by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit with funding from Historic England and Forterra. The project is investigating an exceptionally well preserved settlement dating to the Late Bronze Age (1000 – 800BC). The site itself sits on the edge of a working quarry at Whittlesey, just outside of Peterborough.
What was found in 2006?
Whilst pottery is a common find from almost any archaeological dig, the ceramics recovered from the 2006 evaluation were truly fantastic. There was a wide variety in form and function, from large storage vessels to beautiful, tiny “poppyhead” cups from the Late Bronze Age. There were also some exceptional discoveries, notably preserved pieces of clothing that had survived for 3,000 years. These textiles had survived as a consequence of the fire charring the fibres and water extinguishing them. Analysis has shown that rather than using animal fibres these fabrics were created from plant fibres.
When was the Palisade built?
The settlement consisted of houses built on a series of piles, or stilts, sunk into a river channel below and seems to have been built between 1000 – 800BC. Around the edge of the settlement a palisade, consisting of large ash posts, was constructed in situ, leaving the debris at the bottom of the slow-moving river.
What were the stilted buildings made of?
The floors were likely springy and made from wattle panelling, similar to the walls of the buildings and their roofs were composite; made from a mixture of thatch, turf and clay.
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
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.
Who monitored the excavation of the Cambridgeshire ruins?
The project was monitored by the Historic Environment Team of Cambridgeshire County Council.
What are charred biota?
Most of the charred biota can be regarded both as organisms to be analysed in terms of their species, habitats, ecology and procurement, and as material culture that was processed, stored, consumed and discarded within the settlement. In contrast, the diverse uncharred plant and animal assemblages represent both habitats in the palaeochannel catchment and resources introduced into the pile-dwelling settlement. While the two categories are not mutually exclusive, the majority of uncharred small biota appear to be organisms from within the palaeochannel catchment.
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 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 long does it take for a juvenile ovicaprid to die?
Preliminary analysis of the juvenile ovicaprids, for example, suggests an age at death of between three and six months (based on first molar eruption), which places their death during the summer months. Such analysis, however, is complicated by the presence of articulated bones from butchered joints, which indicates periods of meat storage, in addition to consumption.
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.
What is the significance of the Must Farm pile dwelling?
The exceptional spatial and temporal coherence of the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement, together with the particular contextual conditions that preserved its accompanying material intensity, has huge interpretive implications. Along with the ability to reconstruct a Late Bronze Age settlement and its individual household units, the site presents an unparalleled
Where is the must farm?
The Must Farm pile-dwelling site is an extraordinarily well-preserved Late Bronze Age settlement in Cambridgeshire, UK . The authors present the site's contextual setting, from its construction, occupation and subsequent destruction by fire in relatively quick succession. A slow-flowing watercourse beneath the pile-dwellings provided a benign burial environment for preserving the debris of construction, use and collapse, while the catastrophic manner of destruction introduced a definitive timeframe. The scale of its occupation speaks to the site's exceptional nature, enabling the authors to deduce the everyday flow and use of things in a prehistoric domestic setting.
What are charred biota?
Most of the charred biota can be regarded both as organisms to be analysed in terms of their species, habitats, ecology and procurement, and as material culture that was processed, stored, consumed and discarded within the settlement. In contrast, the diverse uncharred plant and animal assemblages represent both habitats in the palaeochannel catchment and resources introduced into the pile-dwelling settlement. While the two categories are not mutually exclusive, the majority of uncharred small biota appear to be organisms from within the palaeochannel catchment.