A massive collection of artifacts, around 3,000 years old, were recently recovered from the Cambridgeshire Fens in eastern England, including containers of food that have been analyzed as nettle stew.

Considered as the largest collection ever found in one place in Britain by the Daily Mail, the discovery includes hundreds of artifacts that could provide scientists with new insight on how Bronze Age people lived their daily lives.

The collection included wicker baskets, wooden sword handles, textile fragments and boats made from oak tree trunks, reports said.

The Observer reported that containers of food were found at the site, "including a bowl with a wooden spoon still wedged into the contents, now analyzed as nettle stew, which may have been a favorite dish in 1000BC."

Observer reporter Dalya Alberge said the artifacts were discovered "submerged under an ancient watercourse along the southern edge of the Flag Fen Basin, land altered over millennia by rising sea levels." She added that at ground level there was no clue on the existence of the artifacts because they were four meters below ground and would not have been picked up by aerial, radar or other exploratory surveys.

"Along the 150-metre stretch of a bronze age river channel, they have found the best preserved example of prehistoric river life. There are weirs and fish traps in the form of big woven willow baskets, plus fragments of garments with ornamental hems made from fibrous bark and jewelery, including green and blue beads. Extensive finds of metalwork include bronze swords and spears, some apparently tossed into the river in perfect condition, possibly as votive offerings. One of the boats is 8.3 meters long," Alberge reported.

The senior project official working on the dig, Mark Night, said that the objects were in "pristine" condition because they had been embedded in deep layers of silt and peat. On the other hand, David Gibson, head of Cambridge University's archaeological unit, noted that the excavation finds, could take years to be fully completed, will be preserved and ultimately put on display to the public.