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WonderSettlement archaeology fact

Must Farm, a Bronze Age village of roundhouses built on stilts in eastern England, burned around 850 BC and fell into the river channel below. The oxygen-poor mud preserved its timbers, cloth, pots and even meals.

Cambridgeshire, England, c. 850 BC

ArchaeologyHistoryArchitecture

The story behind the card

The site lies in a clay quarry near Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, on the bed of a vanished river in the Flag Fen basin. The University of Cambridge's archaeology unit excavated it in 2015 and 2016, and the press soon called it 'Britain's Pompeii', because the disaster sealed everyday life in place. When fire broke out, the platform and houses collapsed into the water, which put out the flames and buried what was inside. Finds include fine textiles made from plant fibres, wooden and pottery vessels, bronze tools, and a small bowl with food still in it and a wooden spatula resting inside. In 2016 the team also lifted a wooden wheel about a metre across, complete with its hub: the oldest complete wheel found in Britain. A horse's spine nearby suggests it came from a cart.

Türkçe oku
Must Farm, İngiltere'nin doğusunda kazıklar üzerine kurulmuş yuvarlak evlerden oluşan bir Tunç Çağı köyüydü. MÖ 850 civarında yanıp altındaki nehir yatağına çöktü; oksijensiz çamur ahşabı, kumaşları, çömlekleri, hatta yemekleri korudu.
Cambridgeshire, İngiltere, MÖ 850 civarı

Alan, Cambridgeshire'daki Whittlesey yakınında, Flag Fen havzasında kurumuş bir nehrin yatağındaki kil ocağında yer alır. Cambridge Üniversitesi'nin arkeoloji birimi burayı 2015 ve 2016'da kazdı; basın da kısa sürede “Britanya'nın Pompeii'si” adını taktı, çünkü felaket gündelik hayatı olduğu yerde mühürlemişti. Yangın çıkınca platform ve evler suya çöktü; su alevleri söndürdü ve içerideki her şeyi çamura gömdü. Buluntular arasında bitki liflerinden dokunmuş ince kumaşlar, ahşap ve toprak kaplar, bronz aletler ve içinde hâlâ yemek duran, tahta bir kaşığı da içinde bırakılmış küçük bir kâse var. Ekip 2016'da ayrıca göbeğiyle birlikte, bir metre kadar çapında ahşap bir tekerlek çıkardı: Britanya'da bulunmuş en eski eksiksiz tekerlek. Yakınında bulunan bir at omurgası, tekerleğin bir arabaya ait olduğunu düşündürüyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Must Farm
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