3,000-year-old Bronze age homes recovered intact in the UK

A team of archaeologists has discovered an ancient Bronze Age settlement in an excellent state of preservation. The researchers are firm that the study of the settlement will offer new insights the domestic state of living of the Britishers at that time.

The ruins recovered from a site at Must Farm Quarry near Whittlesey include two prehistoric wooden roundhouses, abandoned clothes and pot containing meals. The state of the recovered remains shows that they have remained virtually intact for nearly 3,000 years in the past.

The ruins site have been dubbed “Peterborough Pompeii” due to its astonishing state of preservation. The charred wooden remains recovered from the site suggest that families must be preparing food or eating as their roundhouses caught fire and sank into the bog.

The Telegraph reports that the structure remained preserved for almost 3,000 years because of the fire that carbonised the remains. A similar state of preservation was also observed at Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy. The air and bacteria were unable to corrode the wood due to the silt of the fens.

The site was initially discovered in 2006. However, it is being excavated now, for the first time, by Historic England and the University of Cambridge researchers. So far, the archaeologists have been able to recover well-preserved bowls, jars and textile cups that represent the life that existed during the Bronze Age.

“Must Farm is the first large-scale investigation of the deeply buried sediments of the fens and we uncover the perfectly preserved remains of prehistoric settlement,” said Cambridge Archaeological Unit Site Director Mark Knight, reports Gizmodo. “Everything suggests the site is not a one-off, but in fact presents a template of an undiscovered community that thrived 3,000 years ago ‘beneath’ Britain’s largest wetland.”

Apart from the artefacts, a human skull was also recovered from the site. However, further analysis is required to understand if it belongs to a person who lost his or her life during the fire.