Our Buildings and Experiments
Over 50 years, many buildings have been constructed and experiments conducted at Butser Ancient Farm. We are currently working on a more comprehensive virtual tour of the site but, in the meantime, find out more about the different periods represented at the farm below.
We welcome research proposals from academics, students and researchers and may be able to provide support for your project. If you would like to propose a research project please get in touch.
stone age
Our timeline through history begins in the Mesolithic with two small temporary shelters. Our Neolithic area features our large Horton House based on excavations by Wessex Archaeology of a large house dating to 3800BC . Other experiments in this period include the construction and testing of log boats, the erection of a standing stone monument and the growing of early crops such as Darnell and Upright Goosefoot.
Bronze Age
In our Bronze Age area we have a construction of a late Bronze Age, earth walled roundhouse based on excavations from Dunch Hill on Salisbury Plain.
This was an exciting project working with Operation Nightingale, Step Together Volunteers and Breaking Ground Heritage, with a focus on rehabilitation for ex-service personnel through archaeology. Find out more about this project here.
IRON AGE
Our Iron Age enclosure features six reconstructed Roundhouses based on various sites from across the UK including Danebury Hillfort, Little Woodbury near Salisbury, Noel Y Gerddi in North Wales and Glastonbury Lake Village. Each has been chosen to test a different form or construction technique. We also have an Iron Age toilet, herb garden and an encircling ditch surrounding the houses.
Romano British
Our Roman Villa, based on excavations from Sparsholt near Winchester was built between 2002-3 as part of a Discovery TV series. It has recently undergone extensive renovation, officially reopening in May 2019. It now includes a mosaic floor, working Hypocaust, toilets and kitchen garden.
anglo-saxon
Our Saxon houses are based on excavations from the nearby village of Chalton. both houses have similar archaeological footprints but we have built them in slightly differing ways, using this as an opportunity to test different theories about Saxon construction techniques.
Crops, animals and farming
As a working farm we grow several varieties of ancient crops and work with The Species Recovery Trust as a safe site for endangered species. We also work with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and are home to a rare breed animals including Manx Loughton sheep and English goats.
Selected recent Publications and presentations
Members of the Butser team regularly publish and present at national and international conferences regarding our experimental archaeology work. Below is a selection of recent work.
2024, February: Trevor Creighton. The Butser Ancient Farm Horton Neolithic Building – Its Construction and Significance to the Interpretation of Buildings of Early Neolithic Britain and Ireland. EXARC Journal Issue 2024/1
2022, July: Trevor Creighton. Butser Ancient Farm at 50: celebrating half a century of experimental archaeology. Current Archaeology issue 389, August 2022
2021, October 1st. Trevor Creighton: Keynote Address: Ceci n’est pas une roundhouse? Experience and performance in experimental archaeology. Later Prehistoric Finds Group Online Symposium, 2021: Performing later prehistory: Recent work on Bronze Age and Iron Age Finds.
2021: Claire Walton. Reimagining the Past: experiments in construction at Butser Ancient Farm¸ Current Archaeology issue 377, August 2021
2021, June 3rd. Trevor Creighton: Paper: Butser Ancient Farm: Bronze Age Roundhouse Collaborative Project 2021. Iron Age Research Student Symposium 2021.
2021, March 31st. Trevor Creighton: Paper: Butser Ancient Farm: Bronze Age Roundhouse Collaborative Project 2021. EAC12. 12th EXARC Experimental Archaeology Conference.
2020: Trevor Creighton: Paper: Documentation Strategies at Butser Ancient Farm. EXARC Journal 2020/4.
2020: Bingham, R. Creighton, T. Walton, C. and Chaffey, G. The Butser Horton Project¸ British Archaeology July-August 2020, pp. 32 - 39.
2020, May 10th: Trevor Creighton and Claire Walton, '(Re)constructing the Stone Age: Building a Neolithic house', at Experiencing Experimental Archaeology Conference, Lauresham Open-Air Laboratory, Lorsch Germany.
2020: Contributors to online experimental archaeology soundscapes project – ABADIR.
2020: March 27th: Trevor Creighton: Paper 'Strategies to Document, Record and Store Key Information', at Documentation Strategies in (Archaeological) Open-Air Museums. EXARC/Museumsdorf Düppel, Germany.
2018: Trevor Creighton: Paper: 'The Butser Ancient Farm mosaic project', Journal of the Association for Roman Archaeology, Autumn 2018, Issue 40.