In the ninth century B.C., a marshland settlement was ravaged by fire and sunk into a stream. Thousands of years later, archaeologists have uncovered the largest Bronze Age discovery in the U.K.
It may have been a summer’s day in the ninth century B.C. when a fire erupted in a dwelling in what is now eastern England. Raised on wooden stakes over a wide, sluggish stream, the small houses alongside it were soon engulfed in flames.
In 1999, during a visit to a disused clay quarry at Whittlesey, local archaeologist Martin Redding spotted what seemed to be the remains of wooden posts at Must Farm. Redding immediately suspected they might have historical value. After discovering the posts, Redding found shards of pots on subsequent visits.
Nearby, archaeologists also found remains of an elevated causeway built of large oak slats. Dated between 1290 and 1250 B.C., it significantly predates the pile dwellings; residents probably saw the causeway as a waterlogged ruin from a previous age. In 2015 archaeologists were finally able to carry out an intensive excavation and reveal the secrets of the miraculously preserved objects. Funded by Historic England, a team of archaeologists led by Mark Knight excavated the site completely and documented their findings. One by one, the objects were extracted and documented.
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