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| Log Boat - Must Farm |
In this post I cross the Irish Sea for a unique glimpse into the Late Bronze Age.
The
Must Farm settlement in Cambridgeshire 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 – 1000BC.) Slightly later, between 1000 – 800BC, a
wooden palisade was erected around the main platform.
At some point after the palisade was created a fire tore through the settlement, causing the platform to drop into the river below where the flames were immediately quenched. 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 clothing. It is believed that when the platform burned down all activity at the settlement ceased and it was abandoned.
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| Pottery - Must Farm |
Since the
excavation began in August 2015, the Must Farm site has revealed everything
from pottery to textiles and log boats to a wooden wheel. The settlement 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.
The roof of each
round houses appears to have been made of rafters that joined in an apex over
the centre of the building. It seems that turf was used to roof the homes owing
to the large quantities of burnt turf deposited at the base of the channel. The
presence of charred cereal roots in some of the turf suggests that the turf
being used was cut from areas where crops had been cultivated.
The sediment also
contained traces of clumps of burnt thatch which suggests the roof was made
from reeds. This level of detail is something that most archaeologists would
never expect to find when excavating a house of this period.
Archaeologists believe that the floors of the
roundhouses were made of large panels of woven, bundled willow-like wood supported
by round wood. Several large well-preserved wattle panels were recovered from
the site and archaeologists believe that these formed the walls of the
structure.
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| 3000 Year Old Textile Must Farm |
Among of the
most delicate and striking items to survive are pieces of textile, which have
remained intact for 3000 years. Bronze Age textiles from Britain are extremely
rare and those that do survive are often in very poor condition and usually
only tiny fragments survive. Incredibly, examples of textile from every stage
of the manufacturing process have been recovered ranging from hanks of plant
fibres, spools and balls of thread to woven textiles and twining.
The people who
lived at Must Farm produced material of excellent quality. Some of the threads
used in the creation of woven textiles are the diameter of a thick human hair.
Each household seems to have been creating fabric and the preservation of these
materials will provide a new level of understanding about textile production
during the Bronze Age.
Very few of the
artefacts found at Must Farm show any traces of decoration. All these artefacts
have a very distinct style and appearance. This style appears to be a direct
representation of the “fashion” of the day and were what people wanted in everything
from pots to wooden objects.
The quantity and
range of wooden artefacts found at Must Farm is undeniably astonishing. Large
numbers of wooden objects have been recovered and many of these are unique and
their purpose unclear. Very little of the wood seems to have been decorated or
embellished in any way. For example, the dozens of wooden platters, buckets and
vessels found are all undecorated and very simple in design but well-made and
skillfully crafted.
Eight
beautifully preserved prehistoric log boats were recovered during the excavation
of Must Farm. Radiocarbon dating has indicated that the ages of these boats
spanned a period of about 1000 years, with the earliest examples dating to
around 1,750–1650 BC.
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| Wooden Wheel - Must Farm |
In
2016 a large wooden wheel, measuring about 1 m in diameter, was uncovered at
the site. The specimen, dating from 1,100–800 years BC, represents the most
complete and earliest of its type found in Britain and reveals a high degree of
craftsmanship.
Archaeologist
found several buckets, also known as two-part vessels. These containers are
made from hollowing out a section of log before inserting a base into the
bottom of the log: creating a container. Alongside these finds archaeologists
discovered a number of wooden “platters”, large and broadly flat objects carved
from a single piece of wood.
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| Spear Head - Must Farm |
Other finds from this site have
included swords and spears which still had their handles intact. Bronze
artefacts such as swords, spears and axes are often found in watery locations,
such as lakes and rivers. There are many theories as to why metal is found in
these locations, the most prevalent regarding it as a form of ritual, or
votive, deposition. At Must Farm archaeologists have been fortunate enough
to find metal artefacts still within their original use contexts inside the
settlement.
Surprisingly,
archaeologists have not found much refuse material at the site indicating that
the settlement was fairly young when it was destroyed. Preliminary examinations
of some of the timbers from both the palisade and the houses seems to show that
the wood was still fresh when it was charred in the fire.
The
Must Farm settlement in Cambridgeshire is one of the most complete Late Bronze
Age examples known in Britain. The
scale, quality and condition of the objects found at Must Farm have astonished archaeologists
giving us an unparalleled insight into the lives of the people who lived
there 3,000 years ago.
All photographs courtesy www.mustfarm.com
All photographs courtesy www.mustfarm.com
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