Monday, February 4, 2019

Must Farm – Post Excavation

Various pots during the pottery re-fitting exercise
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website

In an earlier blog post I wrote about the Must Farm settlement in Cambridgeshire, England, which is one of the most complete Late Bronze Age examples known in Britain. The settlement consists of five circular wooden houses, built on a series of piles sunk into a river channel below and seems to have been built around 1300 – 1000 BC. The houses were subsequently destroyed by fire.
Specialist Analyses
The months of excavation work have now been followed by a series of detailed scientific investigations exploring the Must Farm settlement in much finer detail. The results of this post excavation analysis so far are detailed on the Must Farm website. Almost 50 specialists are currently working on investigating 37 different aspects of the settlement focusing on its material, environmental samples and dating the site scientifically. It is during this wide-ranging specialist investigation that theories and interpretations developed during the excavation can be tested or expanded.
Selection of socketed axes
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website

The excavations at the Must Farm site revealed a varied accumulation of artefacts consisting of metalwork, textiles, animal bone, pottery and much more. Many of the objects were found in remarkable condition while others were fragmented especially the large collections of pottery and animal bone.
At Must Farm the preservation of the material left behind is excellent because of the ideal combination of charring and waterlogging. Textiles, wooden objects and environmental evidence are among the finest examples from the Late Bronze Age found in Britain.
Late Bronze Age socketed axe complete with handle
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website
Wooden Objects
Must Farm has yielded an abundance of wooden objects and implements, many of which have rarely, if ever, been seen in a Late Bronze Age site. Over the 10 months of the Must Farm excavation, archaeologists recorded over 5,000 pieces of wood ranging from woodchips to huge oak timbers.
Residue of food in one of the Must Farm
bowels
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website
Food
One of the most widely reported finds from the Must Farm settlement has been the survival of food remnants inside many of the pots. The fire which destroyed the structures helped these organic materials to survive in a very charred form. This raises the tantalising possibility that archaeologists will be able to find out what meals were being prepared at the time of the blaze.
Quern-stone
During excavation of the occupation deposits from the interiors of the collapsed building archaeologists recovered the shattered remains of a flint quern. The flint had been heated to a high temperature inside one of the structures during the large fire which destroyed the settlement. When the floor collapsed and the heated quern hit the water, it shattered.
The flint quern-stone has an exceptionally flat surface unlike many prehistoric examples. Characteristically, when a stone quern is used for grinding, the surface develops a prominent indentation from constant rubbing with the hand-stone. One possible explanation is that the quern was new and simply had not been used enough to develop a depression. This interpretation would support the theory that the settlement had not been lived-in for long before being destroyed by the fire.
Socketed bronze axe
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website
Metalwork
The Must Farm site also produced a large collection of metal tools and weapons for specialists to study. The different types of axe all date to roughly the same period during the Late Bronze Age. Many of these axes are incredibly well used and have been sharpened many times. This wear on the blades is likely to have been due to the construction of the settlement, which would have required extensive cutting and shaping of hundreds of timbers.
Environmental Conditions
The buildings at Must Farm were built on stilts, situated above a river channel, before being destroyed by an intense fire. Archaeologists noted patterns amongst the material that suggested a strong association between objects and their original positions within the Must Farm buildings.
Initial environmental evidence suggests that the river channel was shallow and slow moving, supporting the initial view of archaeologists that the material at the base of the river channel had not travelled far from where it would have fallen. Analysis of pollen data and plant remains, for example, has provided a more detailed understanding of the river channel. While it was suspected that the river was sluggish and shallow, the environmental data suggests that at times it may have been almost dry.
The study of plant remains, and related evidence indicates that the river channel had dense reeds along its course and, importantly, underneath the structures. Archaeologists suspect that the reeds created a “hairbrush” effect, catching artefacts and debris as the structures burned and their floors collapsed.  This had the effect of slowing the material as it was deposited into the channel. Artefacts simply dropped directly below the stilted buildings, thereby, reflecting their original position inside the structures.
Image showing palisade posts
Photo: (c) Must Farm Website
Footprints from the Past
During the excavation archaeologists revealed preserved footprints surrounding the palisade. It seems very likely that these groups of footprints were the result of people involved in the construction of the palisade during a time when the river was dry or shallow. Animal hoofprints are present alongside those of humans suggesting the presence of various species at the site during the construction. This amazing glimpse of a moment in the creation of the palisade over 3,000 years ago helps connect us to the people involved in the creation of the Must Farm dwellings.
Animal Bone
A range of different animals was recorded at the site including wild boar and red deer. The most prominent feature of the animal bone was a preference for wild meat rather than the domestic types typically associated with sites of this period in the Bronze Age. The inhabitants of Must Farm appear to have had definite preferences for certain joints of meat with red deer and boar forequarters present in several of the houses. Around the outside of each of the site’s structures is a “halo” of bone fragments that seem to reflect the waste of meal preparation.

Conclusion
The settlement at Must Farm has one of the most complete Bronze Age collections of artefacts ever discovered in Britain, giving us an unparalleled insight into the lives of the people who lived there 3,000 years ago. As archaeologists and various specialists examine the vast array of samples from this site, we can look forward in the coming years to learning much more about this fascinating and remarkable Late Bronze Age site and the Bronze Age generally.


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