Our archaeological excavations are uncovering all sorts of finds and clues that tell us about how people lived in this region of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire!
We have discovered several roundhouses, from the Iron Age and Roman period, including some extremely big buildings! Roundhouses were the main type of building used in England for hundreds of years and would have been part of everyday life in this area 2,000 years ago.
At one settlement we found two huge roundhouses – one 15m and another 20m in diameter! We don’t know why they were so big – it could mean the inhabitants were high status, or maybe just lots of people lived in them. We talked with Butser Ancient Farm’s resident roundhouse expert about these roundhouses on our Highways to the Past podcast.
As well as the places people lived, we can discover a little about how people lived. We’ve found pieces of jewellery including a ring-headed pin (which might have been worn like a brooch), a silver ring, and a twisted metal ring. Seen alongside loom weights, which tell us that people here were weaving fabric, it reminds us that people weren’t just scraping by – they had style!
Our discoveries also question a common stereotype that life in the Iron Age was a constant struggle. We’ve found plenty of evidence of animals being butchered – which means people enjoyed a meal with meat – plus what looks like the remains of what could be a feast. We all enjoy a party, and it was the same 2,000 years ago.
Most everyday items for people do not survive over this huge amount of time. However, one settlement was located next to a large natural ditch, that would often fill with water. Because the soil was so waterlogged there wasn’t any oxygen for the bacteria to survive that usually decomposes objects. This meant we found amazingly well preserved wooden ladders and panels of wattle that would usually have long rotted away.
These everyday items, which look so familiar to things we might see today, hints at all the objects and tools which filled these settlements that we will never find.
