Bronze Age Discoveries

On Wednesday 20th January 2016, 35 members of Kings Dyke Nature Reserve had the pleasure of visiting the Must Farm Bronze Timber Platform (1000 – 800BC).

This is a joint Historic England/ Forterra project which is being undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU). Sitting on the edge of Kings Dyke’s working quarry (known asMust Farm), the platform was first discovered in 1999 and after being re-buried to save it from drying out, the decision has now been taken to excavate it in its entirety. The members were able to view the remains of two and a half roundhouses and a wooden palisade.

The tour was lead by Celina (a member of the CAU), who provided lots of information about the site and the people that lived there 3000 years ago. Just some of the exceptional finds seen included a blue glass bead, pottery bowls (still containing food), textiles, a bronze age sickle and a spearhead. What we found particularly amazing was the impressive state of preservation of the timbers (they looked as though they had just been bought from B&Q)!