Neolithic House Project - the completion of the Horton House!

Although our updates have been a bit sporadic due to the lockdown we have still been working hard on the finishing touches to our Neolithic Horton House. Here, archaeologist Claire shares the feeling of achievement as our Horton House is completed and we welcome the first visitors to the new house…

At last I am able to announce the completion of our Neolithic house project. In doing so, we will finally be saying goodbye to a construction site, and hello to a new, immersive visitor attraction here at Butser. The emotions this provokes in me aren’t easily defined – a sense of relief, joy or maybe even sadness…..….I suspect there’s a bit of all three.

It is without doubt one of the most challenging construction projects we have taken on here, not least because it really was experimental. Unlike a roundhouse, there was no tried and tested design (thank you Peter Reynolds) nor a prescribed method of construction and erection. But of course like many, we were also faced with the additional challenges of working whilst following the government’s COVID restrictions and guidelines. From furlough to social distancing, through a scorching summer and a long, dark, lonely winter, with the stress of closures and re-openings we’ve battled on and in the end, I truly believe we have triumphed.

Everyone who has been involved in helping to construct it now has an emotional connection to this building, all seven tons of Scots pine, six tons of thatch, the mile of thatching twine and the sheer monumental scale of it.

Once a colleague turned to me having spent many hours working on the house. With a Neolithic knife cradled in his hand and his eyes glassy with emotion, he said, pointing to the house:

“A piece of you is in that. The more you invest, the more you are invested in that building”.

His heartfelt observation was one of those rare moments of illumination, shining a light into the darkness of the past. That shared experience and emotional engagement with our ancestors was just as precious as all the material traces left behind in the archaeological record.

Of course, the whole experience wasn’t some kind of pseudo-séance with the Neolithic builders of this structure. Along the way we discovered the answer to lots of practical questions, and satisfied our curiosity about many things, whether that be how well a bone chisel worked ( an hour and a half to core right through a 5 inch diameter Scots pine pole, seeing as you ask) to how successful our flint axe was at shaping timbers (surprisingly efficient). In the absence of that séance, there’s one question which will have to remain unanswered however, and that’s whether the original Neolithic inhabitants of this house would have approved of our efforts. Why not come to Butser Ancient Farm to see the Horton house, have an immersive Neolithic experience and decide for yourself?

A huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in the Horton House project.

Continue reading below to find out more information about the construction…

Background to the Horton House

The Horton House is a reconstruction of a Neolithic building based on a discovery made at Kingsmead Quarry near Horton in Berkshire in 2012 by Wessex Archaeology.  The original house is believed to date to 3800-3600 BC. There is remarkably little evidence for Neolithic housing in the UK so this was a particularly exciting discovery as it was the largest of four houses discovered at the same site. 

Horton House is unusually large for this time period; the Neolithic or late Stone Age. It measures approximately 15 metres in length by 7.5 metres in width. Its widest point is the middle, tapering towards each end like a trapezoid. On excavation, the footprint of the house could clearly be seen, revealing a large structure with a series of post holes and slot or foundation trenches.

From this evidence, working closely with the original excavation team from Wessex Archaeology we have designed and constructed one interpretation of the finds made. It is of course feasible that there could be other possibilities. 

The main features of the Horton House:

The evidence revealed 6 post holes – remarkably few for such a large building, creating an exciting challenge for our experimental archaeologists here on site. 

It appears to be divided internally into two ‘cells’. We don’t know how this influenced the use of space internally. Although there is no direct evidence, it is possible that animals were stalled at one end. 

The archaeology suggests a possible double entrance on the South East end of the building. We’ve speculated that one door could have provided access to an animal stall whilst the other led to domestic living space. 

With no trace of a floor surface or hearth for a fire we’ve chosen to have a simple beaten earth floor and a clay hearth – both frequently recorded in archaeological excavations of prehistoric houses. 

The roofing material is water reed, in this case imported from Turkey because the tradition of managing reed beds for thatch has been abandoned here in the UK. 

We calculated that the reed roof must have pitch of at least 45 degrees – any shallower and the thatch would rot. An increased pitch would provide no functional advantage and would just use up more material resources.  It was this that partly dictated the design of the building. The weight of a roof this size on a timber wall would have been enormous. Our design enables the roofing timbers to double as the walls of the house, with oak planking acting as infill at the base, in line with the archaeological evidence.  

Horton House Facts and Figures from the build…

• 15 m x 7.5 m, trapezoidal shaped structure

• 6 post holes and slot or foundation trenches possibly suggesting oak planks

• Oak, Scots Pine, hazel and ash all used in its construction.

• 5 to 6 tons of thatch 

• 1.5km of thatching twine

• 2.7km of twine attaching the battens to the roof structure. 

• 950m of rope used to lash the large timber joints together. 

A Sustainable Revolution for Open Air Museums - Exarc at Butser in 2022

Butser Projects Co-ordinator Sue talks about our exciting plans to host an EXARC Experimental Archaeology conference in 2022 all about Sustainability in Open Air Museums.

While we spend a lot of time here at Butser thinking about the past, we also think about the future too. Next year, 2022, is a special year as it’s 50 years since Peter Reynolds started his experimental Iron Age farm on Butser Hill. We’ll be celebrating that anniversary, there will be lots more to come on that later, but one date for 2022 that is already in our calendar is the EXARC international conference that is coming to Butser Ancient Farm in May.

EXARC is an international cultural heritage network with over 350 members in 40 countries. The organisation works in the areas of Ancient Technology, Experimental Archaeology, Interpretation / education and Museum Practice. Butser Ancient Farm is a dedicated member.

International conferences get planned well in advance so we were already talking about 2022 before the 2021 conference got underway. 2021 was an online conference with 167 presentations that are now available on EXARC’s youtube channel.

We are hoping that 2022 will allow EXARC members to meet in person for a conference at Butser Ancient Farm on 19 and 20 May. The theme for the conference is “A Sustainable Revolution for Open Air Museums”.

The questions we will be talking about will include how to develop the strength of open-air museums by building partnerships with other organisations. Here at Butser we have been working together with universities, Wessex Archaeology and Operation Nightingale in partnerships that benefit and develop all the organisations.

The conference will also consider how open-air museums can become leaders in sustainable solutions. Ancient technology has much to offer the modern world. As well as a collection of buildings, Butser Ancient Farm is the centre of some amazing specialist knowledge in skills and crafts.

We will discuss how can we change internally, support others and eventually lead the way. We will include site and materials management but we look forward to hearing more examples from around the world.

EXARC members are in a unique position where our teaching of the past offers our visitors lessons for the future, so we are more relevant than ever before. Butser’s education programme offers something for all ages from school children to university students, and adults learning from our workshops.

But looking at our own strengths is not enough, we have to develop and find our audience where they feel comfortable, which means we should also, but not exclusively go online. How can the virtual world add to the real-life world? All in all, we need to re-imagine our museums and adapt to change. This is the new journey that Butser is now taking to the online world which will allow us to reach audiences who cannot visit the farm in person.

There will be a call for papers later this year, and we expect tickets for the conference to be on sale in October. https://exarc.net/meetings/2022-sustainable-revolution

The Bronze Age begins at Butser Ancient Farm

Projects Co-ordinator Trevor Creighton discusses the background to the next exciting project at Butser Ancient Farm, our Bronze Age house collaboration with Operation Nightingale. Read on to find out more about the idea and what we hope to achieve…

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Here at Butser we're about to start a new project to build a Bronze Age roundhouse in collaboration with Operation Nightingale. Operation Nightingale is an initiative to assist the recovery of wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans by getting them involved in archaeology.

I first learned about Operation Nightingale's work six or seven years ago when I was watching an episode of the ever-popular Time Team, where they were involved in an important excavation of an Anglo Saxon cemetery. That's a good few years before I started work at Butser, but Operation Nightingale's mission really struck a chord with me. Part of my work at Butser involves co-ordinating volunteer projects and it had been in the back of my mind to get in touch with Operation Nightingale some day and see if we could work together on a project. When a colleague told me that Richard Osgood was on site one day about a year ago this long, vague gestation of a collaboration came suddenly into focus. Richard is an MOD archaeologist and the archaeological director of Operation Nightingale. Well, it took about 10 minutes for us both to realise that this was an idea whose time had come.

I'll backtrack a little now and explain a little about Butser, in case you aren't familiar with the chronology – the time periods – of our buildings. All our buildings are from British archaeology and the earliest reconstructions date from the Neolithic, or Late Stone Age. That's from around 6000 to 4500 years ago. Our next buildings date from the Iron Age – about 2800 to 2000 years ago. Then we move on to Roman and Anglo Saxon buildings. You have probably noticed that there's a big chunk missing – the entire Bronze Age! It starts about 4500 years ago and gradually morphs into the Iron Age in Britain around 2800 years ago. And it's a really exciting period. Of course we see the first metalwork, but there is a lot more besides that – new ways of burial, new pottery and new ways of farming the land. Society in Britain was transformed by the Bronze Age, so that was a big gap! It just so happened that Operation Nightingale were about to excavate a Bronze Age site on MOD land on Salisbury Plain. Subsequently, they uncovered the foundations of a Bronze Age roundhouse and, based on that archaeology, that's what we are about to start building.

So this is an incredibly exciting and important project on a number of levels. It fills our chronological gap – once the structure starts going up we can begin to tell our visitors the story of the Bronze Age in a much more tangible way. Our house will be set in its own small enclosure, surrounded by our sheep enclosures and backed onto by the neighbouring farm's crop fields. What better way to highlight the intensification and diversification of farming in the Bronze Age?

Butser Ancient Farm Manx Loaghtan sheep and Lambs in a field adjacent to where our new Bronze Age house will be built. Our Iron Age enclosure and roundhouses can be seen in the background.

As well as the archaeology though, we are going to be contributing to a programme to help others. That has long been a part of what we do at Butser through our volunteers programme and our Operation Nightingale project is an extension of that. And, of course, all of our volunteers contribute enormously to Butser's success. In this case we will get a fascinating new building, unlike any other on our site. This one is extra special as it will be built by the people who excavated it. And, we very much hope, those same people – the volunteers from Operation Nightingale - will be coming back to join us to tell our visitors the story of the Bronze Age through the medium of their house.

Are we excited by this project? You bet!

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We are delighted to have received funding and support from the South Downs National Park, The Armed Forces Covenant Positive Pathways Fund, Breaking Ground Heritage, Step Together Volunteers and Operation Nightingale for this project to go ahead. Thank you!

If you are a veteran who would like to get involved please contact elaine.corner (at) step-together.org.uk for more information.

Neolithic House project blog 14

During this second lockdown we are luckily able to continue working on the outside building projects at the farm. Here, Archaeologist Claire Walton gives an update on what we have been working on this past week.

“What could possibly go wrong?” 

This phrase somewhat sums up what it’s like working at Butser. We devise, try and test out various ideas during the construction of our buildings here on site. 

Some ideas work out brilliantly, matching archaeological evidence and justifying our choice of interpretation. Other plans go a little awry in the execution, and we have to think about how to resolve the problem we have created for ourselves!

A perfect example is the construction of our end gable wall. Due to the nature of its construction, it quickly became apparent that an extra thick layer of daub was going to be required to cover the rather uneven wattle. No self-respecting Neolithic person would have been happy with bits of hazel wattle projecting out the wall -they were without doubt as sensitive to aesthetics as we are today. 

The first coat of daub therefore had to be treated like a ‘scratch’ or undercoat. I based the ‘design’ on photos I had seen of houses in Ethiopia which have a daub undercoat, with a dimpled surface. In their case, the daub undercoat is then topped with modern concrete! Clearly, the dimpled holey surface creates a good bond with the top coat.  We too have needed a second coat on top, to smooth out some of the particularly ‘bony’ bits. The difference is I’ll stick to our Neolithic concrete – daub. We also used small hazel sticks banged into the existing daub layer and left to stick out a couple of inches to act as additional support pegs for the final layer. It seems to work extremely well. 

Meanwhile at the other end of the house, the planked wall has been completed and we’ve stuffed the wall with turf and moss. Not only does this block up all the gaps, but it certainly gives the impression of working towards a completed look. 

We have also just completed the planking in the doorway, which certainly lends the building a cosier feel. Bit by bit, we are creeping towards completion. 

And for those of you who are wondering….. yes, Will is STILL on the roof. I think he’s trying to give Saint Simeon of Stylites a run for his money. 

Neolithic House Project week 13+?!... work resumes!

Our weekly Horton House blog posts from earlier this year were interrupted by… well we all know what! Thankfully since lockdown we have been able to slowly resume our experimental archaeology work on the farm, and thanks to the funding we have received from the UK Government Culture Recovery Fund, we will now be able to complete our Horton House construction over the Winter!

Here our Archaeologist Claire Walton sums up some of the latest steps we have bee taken on the build…

If there was one things I learned during lockdown, it was that the world is a particularly beautiful place without the sound of cars, engines and aeroplanes. With engines silenced, lockdown took tranquillity to a new level. It gave me the opportunity to think about what the Neolithic might have sounded like, although of course, Neolithic life wasn’t always quiet. In fact, if it was anything like the last two weeks here at the Horton house site, it would have been a collection of very productive noises, from axes on wood, to daub being slapped, with the hum of conversation and discussion going on in the background. We are re-focused and re-energised, determined to push on and complete our Neolithic house before winter sets in.

On Friday last week Will received some instruction and a tutorial from Lyle Morgans, Master Thatcher, on how we can create a ridge along the apex of the house. The completion of this part of the thatch will mean the building is completely waterproof. While our choice of reed for the house is supported by the landscape in which the original house was situated, and also works on a practical level due to its longevity, we have discovered one issue. When thatching in reed, one would normally use wheat straw to create the ridge. This is because reed does not bend enough, and would simply break if we tried to create a ridge using the normal technique. However, due to several poor harvests, there is now a serious shortage of thatching straw. So, just like Neolithic people we had to get creative. We’re using a far less common, but no less effective method. By creating long ‘sausages’ of reed, tied together into bundles, we have been able to pack out the top of the roof where the two sides of reed thatch meet.

Over this sausage, we will lay more reed, with the feathery end facing down towards the ground. This will be held in place using ‘liggers’, long strips of split hazel tied into the roof with hazel ‘spars’.

Butser Ancient Farm receives lifeline grant from Government’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund

Butser Ancient Farm is one of 445 heritage organisations across the country set to receive a lifesaving financial boost from the government thanks to the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. 

445 organisations will share £103 million, including Butser Ancient Farm to help restart vital reconstruction work and maintenance on cherished heritage sites, keeping venues open and supporting those working in the sector. 

The grant awarded to Butser Ancient Farm is £284,800 which will be a lifeline in these challenging times. Part of the grant will help fund staffing and maintenance costs at the farm throughout the winter period when our income has been severely hit by Coronavirus restrictions. The financial support will also help to complete the constructions of our Stone Age house and Saxon house and develop our buildings and site in order to safely welcome visitors, school children and groups to learn about our ancient history in the years to come. The funding will also allow us to make adaptations in order to cope with Covid-19 restrictions such as additional covered shelters and developing online offerings whilst restrictions to on the ground activities remain in place.

This vital funding is from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage and the Heritage Stimulus Fund - funded by Government and administered at arms length by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Both funds are part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund which is designed to secure the future of Britain’s museums, galleries, theatres, independent cinemas, heritage sites and music venues with emergency grants and loans. 

433 organisations will receive a share of £67 million from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage to help with costs for operating, reopening and recovery. This includes famous heritage sites across the country, from Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, Blyth Tall Ship to the Severn Valley Railway, the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincolnshire to the Piecehall in Halifax. The funds will save sites that are a source of pride for communities across the country. 

12 organisations, including English Heritage, Landmark Trust, Historic Royal Palaces and the Canal and River Trust, will receive £34 million from the Heritage Stimulus Fund to restart construction and maintenance on cherished heritage sites to preserve visitor attractions and protect livelihoods for some of the most vulnerable heritage specialists and contractors in the sector. 

The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) has also been awarded a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund through Historic England. The AHF will use the funding to support charities and social enterprises occupying historic buildings to develop new business plans and strategies for organisations affected by the pandemic. 

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: 

“As a nation it is essential that we preserve our heritage and celebrate and learn from our past. This massive support package will protect our shared heritage for future generations, save jobs and help us prepare for a cultural bounceback post covid.” 

Simon Jay, Butser Ancient Farm Director, said:

‘We are incredibly grateful for the funding we have received from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage which will allow the Farm to keep going and developing over the coming months and years. We have exciting plans as we approach our 50th anniversary in 2022 and are thrilled to be able to continue our experimental archaeology and educational work to continue to bring the past to life for more visitors, schools and groups. The funding will enable us to maintain the unique skills and environment of Butser Ancient Farm and support our staff and volunteers whilst providing a much needed outdoor space for school groups, visitors and the local community to access our heritage and nature.’

Meon Valley MP visits Butser Ancient Farm

It has been wonderful to reopen Butser to visitors over the summer and start to get back on our feet after such a difficult few months. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us!

We are currently working on funding applications and plans to help us over the winter months and recently had the pleasure of welcoming local MP Flick Drummond to the farm to discuss challenges and opportunities for support from the government. Find out more below.

Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond visited Butser Ancient Farm recently for a tour of our ancient buildings and landscape, alongside a discussion of the current challenges and opportunities faced at our unique heritage site in the South Downs National Park in East Hampshire. 

MP Flick Drummond Meets with Butser Ancient Farm Directors Simon Jay and Maureen Page in front of the ongoing Horton House Stone Age construction. 

The Farm, which reopened to pre-booked visitors on July 4th and has 'We're Good to Go' accreditation from Visit England, was a hive of activity on a beautiful summer's day, with visitors meeting the new baby goats, watching thatching and ancient skills demonstrations, and exploring the reconstructed ancient homes and buildings. However, after coming out of three months of lockdown, with a subsequent total loss of income during what would have been our busiest time of the year, we are facing a challenging time ahead. 

With the recent announcement that the new Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage is now open for applications, the visit was a fantastic opportunity for Flick to discuss the government's support package for the struggling arts and heritage sector. 

Farm directors Maureen Page and Simon Jay were able to highlight their concerns and hopes for the future as Flick offered her support to any application the farm makes to the Recovery Fund. 

Director Maureen Page said 'As Butser approaches it's 50th year of opening it has been very difficult for us to close for such a long period of time. We love to welcome visitors to explore the ancient past with us and usually host hundreds of school children each week to be inspired about ancient life. This in turn helps to fund our ongoing archaeological research work, enabling us to build and experiment with exciting new interpretations of ancient life, and continue our community wellbeing and volunteering programmes. We are anxious to continue this important work and need all the support we can get in order to do so' 

Butser Ancient Farm Director Simon Jay and Master Thatcher Lyle Morgans talk to MP Flick Drummond about the thatching of the Moel Y Gerddi Iron Age Roundhouse.

MP Flick Drummond with Butser Ancient Farm directors Maureen Page and Simon Jay as the Moel Y Gerddi Iron Age Roundhouse is thatched by master Thatcher Lyle Morgans in the background.

Butser Ancient Farm usually welcomes over 35,000 school children to the Farm every year for a hands-on experience of ancient life. School children take part in a range of practical activities within the reconstructed buildings, representative of homes from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon periods. 

Although school trips are permitted to resume from September, there is still uncertainty over coach travel and the way in which schools will be able to travel to locations such as Butser Ancient  Farm. With many attractions and educational centres facing similar issues, and coach travel companies also struggling, the visit was a valuable opportunity to raise these concerns. Flick will be able to represent and highlight these issues in ongoing government discussions.

With experience on the board of governors for a local School, Flick's interest in education and practical learning was a great match for Butser Ancient Farm, who pride ourselves on an inclusive, hands-on approach to education and learning. Indeed Flick was able to see and discover  Bronze Casting in action, traditional thatching techniques in use and rare-breed goats being milked, all during her tour of the farm...all in a day's work at the farm!

As an independently funded, not-for-profit organisation, Butser Ancient farm relies on visitor income and donations to support our work. If you would like to visit and support us over the Summer we are currently open from Wednesday to Sunday for pre-booked visitors. Find out more and book tickets here.

What do we all have in common with Henry VIII?

Sadly we are currently unable to continue with our Stone Age House build as a result of the site closure and government restrictions related to COVID-19. Instead for this weeks blog our Archaeologist Claire has turned her attentions to the historical and archaeological precedents of the extra-ordinary times we are living through. We hope you are all staying safe and well in these difficult times.

What do we all have in common with Henry VIII? 

Not festering leg ulcers, constipation or malaria (hopefully)…..By the quirks of fate and mother nature, we find ourselves in the shoes of Henry and his country folk in contemplating life during an epidemic. Apparently Henry was so afraid of contracting what was called the ‘sweating sickness’ that he would isolate himself in his rooms, and when travelling around the country, would send his men before him to establish that towns were free of this mysterious and highly infectious disease. I can’t say I blame him. However, I also read somewhere that he had the sick thrown out of their houses in Windsor and Calais and left them to die in the fields. Not exactly champion of the people then.

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger

Until recently, there was very little in the way of treatment for most infectious diseases. Therefore people lived in fear. Sometimes people did act by social distancing, which was surprisingly logical, considering their very poor understanding of how such diseases were spread. The word quarantine stems from the Venetian’s practice of isolating travellers from ships on islands in the lagoon for, in Italian, ‘quarantino’: 40 days, to ensure they were free of plague. No less logically, but completely pointlessly, they also armed themselves with nosegays or ‘tussie-mussies’ - a small bunch of sweet smelling flowers into which you’d bury your nose, hopefully warding off the evil miasma of disease or plague. (If you fancy going a bit historical you can make your own by following this link: https://www.yac-uk.org/activity/make-a-tussy-mussy) 

There have been many epidemics in human history aside from the sweating sickness that struck fear into the Tudors. Typhoid fever which struck Athens during the Peloponnesian war against Sparta, the Antonine Plague in 160 AD, to which the Emperor Marcus Aurelius is thought to have succumbed and the Black Death of 1350 to name but a few. This list goes on. In other words, COVID -19 is just one of many, many epidemics which we humans have encountered.

Portrait of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Roman artwork of the Antonine period.

It has been suggested that most infectious diseases in humans stem from contact with animals. And the more dense the human population, the more likely we are to come into contact with animals harbouring these diseases. Leprosy, anthrax, cow pox, rabies, plague and various contagious fevers. They all jumped from animals to humans. We call diseases like these ‘zoonoses’ from the Greek zoon (animals) and nosos (sickness). 

When such diseases spread to humans, there is always the small risk that if they are viral, they will mutate into a form which can be passed directly from human to human, no longer requiring the animal agent. This is what has happened with coronavirus. 

But this isn’t just a result of a modern, globalised society. The transfer of infectious diseases between animals and humans goes back at least as far as the Neolithic. For example, the domestication of cattle, pigs, goats and sheep was probably where humans acquired a disease called brucellosis, caught through contact with their urine, blood or poo, and preparation of their meat for cooking. Although this one is a bacterial infection, the symptoms are kind of similar to flu (which is viral) but chronic. Rubbish if you caught it (until antibiotics were invented there was no treatment) but interesting for us as archaeologists because the effects of brucellosis can be seen in the human skeleton as bone lesions.

The current pandemic offers us a rather unwelcome window on historical plagues, something we’ve probably all pondered over with gruesome fascination at some point before it all got a bit too darn real. Now we’d rather forget about it. But here’s why we shouldn’t. 

Never has the study of history and archaeology been so relevant. Knowing that we share this experience with others offers solace. Understanding that this time of fear and uncertainty will be over, just as with all other pandemics before, offers a tiny shred of consolation when it feels like 5 days shut in your house is forever. Stay strong and be kind (unlike Henry VIII).