According to , ancient British villagers lived on platforms about six feet above the river and enjoyed a life of luxury. 2 new reports Published by the University of Cambridge.
A report on 'Mast Farm', excavated in 2015-2016 by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), creates an almost cinematic image of domestic comfort there during the Late Bronze Age. It captures the scope, scale, shape and size of the settlement and includes close-ups of hundreds of objects used in daily life.
“Conducting research on mast farms is like having a real estate agent give you a tour of a Bronze Age stilt dwelling,” said report co-author and CAU Archeology Manager David Gibson. in a press release.
Ancient life in “British Pompeii”
Archaeologists were able to reconstruct these households because their detailed “blueprints” were highly legible due to their preservation in wetland locations. The site, about 120km north-west of London, was nicknamed “England's Pompeii'' after a fire broke out about a year after the village was built and the platform supporting it sank to the riverbed. . The mud provided a cushion and saved the platform. Items ranging from tools to food items were also preserved in the mud.
An intact ax with an intact handle was found in the silt directly below Structure 1. It was probably a sign of good luck or an offering to some spirit upon completion of construction. (Credit: Cambridge Archeology Unit)
This was one of the largest national gatherings found in England at the time. Items include 128 ceramic vessels, 18,216 structural timbers, 155 charred vegetable fiber artefacts, 198 wood and bark artefacts, 95 metalwork, and 56 beads It is included. The objects and the study represent people who were well adapted to a difficult place to settle.
“These people were confident, skilled home builders. They had designs that worked beautifully in an increasingly submerged landscape,” said report co-author and excavation director Mark・Mr. Knight stated in a press release.
Its design focused on comfort. The roundhouse roof was insulated with straw, covered with sod, and waterproofed with clay. This combination kept residents warm and dry while still providing adequate ventilation.
“In freezing winters, with the wind blowing across the fens, these roundhouses would have been quite comfortable,” says CAU project archaeologist Chris Wakefield.
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What the Farm Bronze Age Sedentary Houses Explain
An illustration depicting daily life inside “Structure One” based on an analysis of materials unearthed during the excavations at Mast Farm. (Credit: Judith Dobie/Historic England)
You can learn more about village life from the quantity and quality of household items. It appears that one area was dedicated to storing metal tools and the other to storing textiles, as excavations uncovered fragments of cloth, bobbins, and loom weights.
“If you enter one of these homes, you'll see a rich variety of materials, from stacks of pots and wooden troughs filled with their contents to a flock of young sheep kept in a corner.'' They might have been working on it and feeding the leftovers to their pet dogs,” Wakefield said.
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Analysis of must-farm artifacts
More than 50 archaeological experts examined the artifacts using a variety of scientific methods. For example, a ceramic bowl with its maker's fingerprints still bore traces of its last meal: wheat grain porridge mixed with animal fat.
“Chemical analysis of the bowls and jars found traces of honey along with the meat of ruminant animals such as deer, suggesting that these ingredients were combined to create a type of prehistoric honeyed venison. ,” Wakefield said.
By looking at the size of the lamb's skeleton, and therefore its age, scientists estimated the season in which the village burned. They determined that the village was relatively new because much of the wood used in its construction was still green.
Although archaeologists were unable to determine how the fire started, the details they collected provided a vivid picture of how life was lived during that brief conflagration.
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