Can You Thatch Using Gorse?
Student archaeologist Sarah sets out to explore why a recently-discovered Saxon building used gorse for a roof. To us it just seems spiky -- what did the Saxons know about it that we don't? Read More
This is my archive
4: Did We Get Our Roundhouse Wrong?
We've been building this new Iron Age roundhouse for a few weeks now, and something's not right... Our build may not even be possible. Thérèse goes back to the archaeology to re-interpret the data and see what we missed! Read More
How to Make Prehistoric Art
Did ancient people paint their houses? Rachel mixes up some paint using prehistoric methods, and Thérèse digs up an old experiment to try and answer this question... Plus, we paint our newest Iron Age roundhouse! Read More
What Have We Learned From Our Bronze Age House?
Why are we re-thatching our Bronze Age house just one year later? We're learning! Butser archaeologist Thérèse explores the house and our discoveries about the way it might have been built and lived in. Read More
What Evidence Do Stone Age Houses Leave Behind?
How do archaeologists know when they've found a house? And how much of that evidence survives from Stone Age structures? We study the remains of one of our Stone Age buildings to see how closely it matches the original archaeology! Read More
3: Finishing the Roman Mosaic
Our new mosaic is stunning, and all completely authentically laid. But it wasn't an easy journey to get here... In this video, Dr Will Wootton from King's College London takes us through the process, from the very beginning right up to the end. Read More
2: Laying a Roman Mosaic
It's day two of the mosaic project, and the team are laying the first tesserae! We mix mortar to a Roman recipe, and internationally award-winning mosaicist Gary Drostle reveals the mosaic's secret central design... Read More
1: How to Start a Roman Mosaic
We're laying a mosaic -- and the team has only 14 days to do it! It's being laid using authentic Roman techniques, which means before we can get started, the team has to manually cut over 100,000 tesserae... Read More
3: Building a Doorway to the Iron Age
The team builds a doorway for our new Iron Age roundhouse -- and it might not seem like it, but this is one of the trickiest and most important parts. Get it wrong, and the building could be a disaster... Read More
2: Finding Wood in an Ancient Copse
Part two of our new Danebury roundhouse build! This week, our treewright Darren leads the team into an ancient patch of woodland to find the right materials for the build, and learn the importance of the ancient and sustainable practice of coppicing. Read More
