Butser
Ancient Farm Site
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FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you wanted to know, and were not
afraid to ask!
Q: Should there be a hole in
the roof? (of a round house)
A: Only if you want to set fire
to it! You run the risk of creating an updraft that carries sparks
into the thatch.
Q: Did they (the Britons) keep
the animals in the house as well?
A: No-one has ever lived with the
animals, sometimes, in rectangular houses, the animals were in
one end of the building. Anyway, would you want cow droppings
on your carpets...
Q: Where did they go to the toilet?
A: Probably in a pot in the house.
Occasionally a pit near the house can be identified as a midden.
The solids would have gone to be composted, and the liquids are
best left in a pot to go stale, then used as a chemical to aid
curing skins, and as a mordant for dying cloth.
Q: Is Butser Farm on an origional (iron age) site?
A: No. We would not want, nor be allowed, to build on
an archaeological site.
The only place this has been allowed is at Castell
Henlys Iron Age Fort, in Wales.
Q: Who were the Celts?
A: This name is a modern one and refers to the western
areas of Britain - Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. There is no historical
evidence that the ancient Britons were ever called 'Celts'