Understand
All British pre-history can be seen at Cambridgeshire dig, says expert
Overview
An archaeologist leading excavations at the Must Farm quarry site in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, has stated that the location encompasses all of British prehistory. Spanning over two decades of excavation across 37 hectares ahead of clay extraction by Forterra, the site has yielded exceptionally well-preserved artifacts from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, including Britain's Pompeii—the best-preserved Bronze Age dwellings ever found.
Key points
- Excavations at Must Farm near Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, have been directed by Mark Knight of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit since 2004.
- The quarry is famous for the discovery of 3,000-year-old Bronze Age dwellings dubbed Britain's Pompeii.
- Recent finds include flint blades, scrapers, pottery from the Beaker people, animal tracks, and fence posts.
- Evidence indicates that Neolithic and early Bronze Age people moved seasonally across the landscape before adapting to rising sea levels by building stilted wooden houses.
- Unlike jumbled archaeological sites, the Must Farm landscape preserves evidence in distinct undisturbed layers of peat and marine silt.