(CN) — Upon arriving at Must Farm, archaeologists found a surprisingly well-preserved and homey prehistoric village.
Must Farm is a pile-dwelling settlement dated to around 850 B.C. that sits in a marshy wetland landscape in eastern England. According to the Cambridge Archaeological Unit that excavated the site, it is like other archeological settlements in terms of size, location, economy and, in one case, its fiery destruction. However, Must Farm is more intact than other locations, and showcases a domestic side of prehistoric life.
The University of Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research made the team’s full findings available on Tuesday.
According to the archaeologists, Must Farm once stood approximately 2 meters (about 6 feet 6 inches) above the riverbed and swampy terrain, surrounded by a fence of 2-meter-high sharpened posts. Walkway bridges connected some of the main houses, whose former inhabitants divided spaces for specific everyday tasks.
Researchers found artifacts including textile kits, bowls and the skulls of domesticated dogs, which food analysis suggests ate scraps from their owners.
Someone left one of the homes in a hurry, as the archaeologists found a pottery bowl that contained uneaten wheat-grain porridge mixed with animal fats, which the study said likely came from the goat or red deer found in the local woodlands. A wooden spatula used for stirring rested against the inside of the bowl.
Project archaeologist Chris Wakefield marveled at the completeness of Must Farm.
“Being able to detect how Bronze Age homes were laid out is one of the site’s most fantastic discoveries, as this information is exceedingly rare to find in prehistoric archaeology,” said Wakefield via email. “That people were dividing up their space into areas, such as zones for food preparation and cooking, creating textiles and sleeping, isn’t necessarily surprising.
"However, being able to identify that they did so, and say with confidence where those divisions were, is really amazing," the researcher said. "This understanding of space almost made it feel like we were walking around one of these homes as we were excavating it.”
As for the end of Must Farm, the archaeologists found evidence that the inhabitants occupied the village for less than a year before a fire destroyed it, sending the remains of the five buildings and their artifacts into the riverbed. Save for several unfortunate sheep, the archaeologists do not believe the fire killed anyone, though they do wonder what caused the blaze.
The study suggests equally plausible theories that someone accidentally started the fire or that a person deliberately set it as part of a ritual, a way to stop a pest or disease infestation, or during warfare.
Regardless of why Must Farm burned, Wakefield focused on how the everyday items found at the site reflected the mundane lives of today, and what that means for perceptions of the Late Bronze Age going forward.
“Our hope is that the work we’ve done at Must Farm will help show that people living in the Late Bronze Age weren’t so different from today,” Wakefield said. “They had pet dogs, ate similar foods to us — though they seem to have had different tastes! — wore necklaces of decorative beads and were resourceful.
"It is easy to think of prehistory as a period where people were 'primitive' or struggled to survive, but sites like this show us how adapted to their environment they were.”
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