This Was Village Life in Britain 3,000 Years Ago

March 23, 2024 8:18 PM

The superbly preserved remains of a Bronze Age settlement offer a glimpse of a “colorful, rich, varied” domestic life circa 850 B.C. Franz Lidz for the New York Times
posted by bq (17 comments total)

I loved reading about this. It was the small things that I found most interesting - they used nesting bowls! They didn't have shared/communal houses, but rather repeated many of the spaces (bedroom, kitchen etc) in each house). I thought it was most interesting that it was over a river, and I was wondering if that was for waste or for drinking water.
posted by Toddles at 8:24 PM on March 23 [5 favorites]

What I found amazing was the amber and glass beads imported from as far away as present-day Iran. What were the logistics? Cross-continent trading routes? Multiple short, localized trades that eventually got items to faraway places?
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 11:33 PM on March 23 [3 favorites]

Tin (a crucial ingrendient in bronze) has been mined in Cornwall and Devon and traded around the Mediterranean since at least the second millennium BCE. And long-distance trade of amber from the shore of the Baltic Sea is known to have taken place at least that far back, as well.
posted by The Tensor at 12:48 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]

The article quotes Francis Pryor, who led on the excavation of Flag Fen just up the road from this site. He's also one of the many brilliant archaeologists who worked/works on Time Team and possibly the jolliest man in existence.

If you're interested, I believe the Time Team episode on Flag Fen can still be found online, but not currently via the official channel above.
posted by spranks at 3:58 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]

It all sounds lovely until you get to the part about how everyone had worms. Bleeeagh.
posted by Wretch729 at 4:19 AM on March 24 [4 favorites]

Everyone having worms was a standard feature of civilisation up until relatively modern periods. Viking settlements in the Dublin area are easily identified by how much worms are in the midden. Early Baptist churches in the uk had a variety of cures for “bellyaches” that were mostly distractions from the annoyances of intestinal parasites. It’s not until the separation of drinking and waste water that things get better.
posted by The River Ivel at 5:10 AM on March 24 [7 favorites]

He's also one of the many brilliant archaeologists who worked/works on Time Team and possibly the jolliest man in existence.

I’ve watched every time team and you and I have differing opinions on Francis. I found him amusing but also stubborn and misogynistic.

Always preferred the digs managed by Mick (RIP)
posted by terrapin at 5:36 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]

The worms bit led me down a rabbit hole researching Medieval cures for worms.

They had many remedies, seemingly more or less effective. It seems a big part of the issue was recurring exposure. However, wow, I tend to think of the couple common types of intestinal worms, but there's worms that will happily colonize and munch on nearly every part of your body.

I am very thankful for modern medicine.
posted by jellywerker at 7:59 AM on March 24

Time Team Episode on Flag Fen (Unoffcial)
Teatime with Francis Pryor (Interview with Time Team's creator from COVID times reflecting on Flag Fen)
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:58 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

Wow. Thanks for turning me on to Time Team. Excellent content!
posted by SoberHighland at 9:44 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

I thought it was most interesting that it was over a river, and I was wondering if that was for waste or for drinking water

In Volume 1 of the publication it speculates that it might have been for defence.

This section is comparing Must Farm to the Glastonbury Lake Village:

At Glastonbury the village was located on a sig-
nificant water transport route, as was Must Farm. As
such, neither settlement was in a peripheral location.
Glastonbury relied on the neighbouring dryland for
the basis of its food economy, despite the exploitation
of wetland resources. The same was true at Must Farm.
The main differences are that Glastonbury was
a larger settlement, which lasted for a longer time
and seems to have involved a wider range of craft
activity. It was also more isolated within the wetland
than Must Farm and could only have been reached by
dugout canoe. The advantages of wetland resources
and proximity to the waterborne trading route could
have been equally enjoyed by a settlement built on
nearby dryland on Godney island.
An overriding need for additional security may
have been the ultimate driver for the creation of the
lake village. It has been suggested that both Glas-
tonbury and Meare Lake Villages occupied ‘neutral’
territory between the Durotriges and Dobunni tribes
(Coles & Minnitt 1995), but such an interpretation
is highly speculative. Violence in the contemporary
society is demonstrated by the human remains, with
several skulls from the settlement showing sword
cuts. Glastonbury Lake Village flourished for about
a century, possibly as a head-hunting parasitic terror
of the swamps to its enemies and a lucrative trading
partner to its friends.

I live in Cambridgeshire (though possibly not for much longer) and I have been hearing about Must Farm on the local and national news for a good number of years now. I'm glad they have finally done a big publication (open access too).
posted by antiwiggle at 10:22 AM on March 24 [3 favorites]

What a cool picture of life in Bronze Age England! I love archaeology articles that let us look at how everyday people lived their lives. I mentioned in the Southeast Asia FPP the other day that like a magpie I went straight for the video about beads, and I zoomed in on the beads bit today in this one too. And the detail about the skull! (The worms thing was gross though.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:25 AM on March 24 [2 favorites]

what an incredible find! I'm delighted that such a thorough excavation is being done. I'm not surprised that late Bronze Age life was that sophisticated, since most indications are not likely to survive for 2000+ years (ie, textiles). It's a time I would love to be able to "see" like, to time-travel too. I bet it would be full of surprises! (the expanse of trade networks, the sophistication of material goods etc.,)
posted by supermedusa at 11:34 AM on March 24

and worms, of course.
posted by supermedusa at 11:34 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

The virology podcast I follow mentions frequently that polio paralysis only became a problem after modern sanitation developed - before, everyone was exposed to polio very early because human waste was everywhere.
posted by bq at 11:41 AM on March 24 [1 favorite]

It’s not until the separation of drinking and waste water that things get better.


posted by The River Ivel

Eponysterical!
posted by clew at 6:31 PM on March 24 [2 favorites]

I was wondering if that was for waste or for drinking water.

Considering it was surrounded by spiked palisade, I'm guessing defense is a possibility.
posted by kjs3 at 2:15 PM on March 25 [2 favorites]