EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY

This section covers attempts to replicate processes, items, tools and much of the paraphernalia of life in the Iron Age by means of experimentation. It is accepted that this can never be a complete understanding of how the Iron Age tribes made or built things in pre-history but it is hoped that, by trying to replicate the things that they made, using, in many cases, evidence from the excavations we have conducted, we can arrive at reasonably accurate interpretation. This was a huge learning curve as some things only become apparent when you try and fail to solve a problem and look for alternatives eg the spacing between wall posts of Iron Age roundhouses.

The processes covered thus far are:

• Iron age roundhouse
• Construction of a roundhouse
• ‘Pot boilers’
• Ceramic production
• Iron smelting and working

There also mention of spinning and weaving, four grinding, leather making, flint knapping, Iron Age furniture reconstruction and Iron Age agricultural tool manufacture.

To go to the full article, (Click here to go straight to this section) See also a time-lapse series of photographs of the building of the roundhouse here.