Butser Ancient Farm Archive 1973-2007

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds. Anne Ross.

The authors of this paper were invited to attend a conference on 'Ancient Vermont' held at Castleton in Vermont in October 1977,and to examine and comment upon the 'evidence' for the extensive occupation of New England by Celts and others in the first or second millennium BC as propounded by Professor L. B. Fell of Harvard University. The 'evidence' consists broadly of supposed 'Ogam' and 'proto-Ogam' inscriptions on rocks and stones and megalithic stone structures, some of the structures...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The prehistorian studying the agriculture and its allied structures and processes of the four and half millennia B.C. is beset by almost insurmountable difficulties. My own research, which ranges from the Neolithic to the Romano-British period is designed to test the theories or hypotheses offered to explain the development of agriculture. A description of the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project, its principles, philosophy and aims is reports as an appendix tot he paper I presented to this...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter J. Reynolds.

This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The booklet presents three types of houses of the Iron Age in Britain: The Canderton Round house, The Glastonburg Round House, and the Breiddin Round House. It demonstrates issues and advantages of the structures of the different houses. Beside houses, also ditches, palisades, and ramparts are discussed shortly. The experiments done in and around these houses included all domestic and agricultural tasks like weaving and sowing out crops.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This article introduces an upcoming "series of articles describing what's been happening on the Ancient Farm as the season unfold. The purpose is to give space and time to bring the farm to a wider audience and to explain not only the work but the reasons for the work.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Description of the project prior to the group's visit to Butser.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Experimental archaeology can be sensibly claimed to be fundamental to the progress of archaeological thought and practice. Especially is this so with relation to prehistory and excation technique. In fact, experimenta have been conducted for as long as archaeology has bee npreactised but it is only relatviely recently that the experiemtns have been subjected to rigorouse scientific controls. as a general description experimental archaeology is an umbrella term likst geography fo even archaeolgy...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This article reports of the Conference in which P. Reynolds presents the idea of connecting archaeological evidence with experimental archaeology to increase the understanding and scientific approaches, as well as their outcomes for future research. He represents the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project in which he explains several projects: Reynolds talks about agriculture, like wheat spelt, barley and oats, and also opium poppy seeds and caraway as ingredients of the Iron Age life. But also...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Reynolds opens the debate of experimental archaeology and science as a cooperation in demonstration areas and open air museums. He describes which farms are already open and how they were used. Little Butser, Hampshire was used as an open demonstrative area for scientists and public, while in Hillhampton Down the area was used as an Open Air Museum. Comparing both places, issues and advantages came up. On the one hand, free demonstrative areas give a lot of freedom to decide which projects and...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The article from 1985 describes the experiment of reconstructing and agricultural field from the Iron Age at the Butser Ancient Farm. The experiment had a few issues, such as the climate which was not the same in the 20th century, compared to the Iron Age. The climate can have major influences on the harvests and the results of the experiment. It has to be debated and treated critically. Another difference of the Iron Age and the 20th century is the soil. The soil might have been a lot...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The conventional view of the lron Age is that it was a subsistence society, eking out a basic existence until the arrival of civilising Romans. As Dr Peter Reynolds of the Butser Ancient Farm reveals, nothing could be further from the truth. Britain was the bread basket of Western Europe and a major supplier of grain to the Roman Empire.

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nicholas Thomas.

This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The opportunity to build a construct of a prehistoric house given to me by Nicholas Thomas in 1969 has proved to be one of the most significant moments in the development of this type of empiricism in archaeology (Reynolds 1999). Prior to this time, scaled down 'reconstructions' had been attempted, notably the building of the Little Woodbury house (Bersu 1940) and generalised 'reconstructions' of Iron Age huts (Reynolds 1965). The fundamental difference of this occasion was that the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The article describes the empirical experiment in agriculture at the Butser Ancient Farm Project at the location of Little Butser, where crop fields were sown, observed, and analysed. Emmer, spelt, but also bean were sown. The project came across several issues, such as bad soil structure, weather interruptions, and questions of tools. The soil made it difficult to judge whether the crops will grow, as well as how the outcome will be. The weather majorly influenced the crop, grow and the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

The chapter compares archaeological data with the empirical research conducted to receive results and new concepts of agriculture in the Iron Age. A major feature in this study are ards: their construction, function, and their proper use for agriculture. The experiments were conducted on fields with sown out crops of emmer and spelt. Results conclude that, beside the tools, bioclimate and geological zones were of significance in the Iron Age society of Britain.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

"Research at Butser is currently demonstrating that a high level of expertise in agriculture existed at that tie. Farms were complex units with all the attributes once would expect. The basic agricultural economy embraced both production and service industries and was successful. The presence of fowl, whether Indian Red Jungle or Old English Game, serve to show that a level of sophistication existed which included that of competitive pleasure. Hardly the pursuits of tattooed, naked savages,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This paper presents the results of a current research programmes designed to examine by replication the construction, function and wear patterns of the Donnerupland ard. The research programme is being carried out by the author at the Butser Ancient Farm Project Trust near Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. The original ard is described in detail from the evidence recorded by P.V. Glob with further observations of the critical elements of wedges and the bracing of the foreshare against the stilt....

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The article describes the new methodological approach of experimental archaeology towards the field of archaeology, in which new questions and contexts are asked and answered. Experimental archaeology uses information from excavations as a ground for new questions and hypotheses which are answered in practical experiments. One of the projects doing experimental archaeology to discover more about Iron Age farming practices is the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project, founded in 1972. It is...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This article describes the continued experiment of grain storage in Iron Age pits and updates the information given in the article from 1967, which was published in the 86th volume of the same journal.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The article describes the first attempts of experimental archaeology projects in Iron Age agriculture in the context of the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project in 1967. The experiments concerned the whole agriculture cycle from sowing out the seeds to the storage possibilities in pits over the winter. The experiments opened the discussion of climate and work processes in agriculture. The experimentalists faced climate changes, mold, analysed the CO2 concentrations in order to finalized their...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This document describes the construction of an Iron Age Hut at the Avoncroft Museum. It confronts issues of material choice and construction mistakes while building the hut. Theories of locations and surroundings such as fires and agriculture were formed during the project.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The newsletter reports of the first course in experimental archaeology, taught in 1972 at Birmingham University. The seminar included 6 lecturers who each presented a topic in experimental archaeology. Beside the lecturers, 2 practical workshops were offered: weaving and pottery making. The practical workshops offered the direct approach to experimental archaeology and its questions, issues, and challenges in science. The review also includes reports of on going experiments at the Butser...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

The newspaper article draws the attention to the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project, in with that, the presentation of experimental archaeology. P.J. Reynolds explains how experimental archaeology can contribute to data sets and science, including that the project in Little Butser applies to different aspects of research, like botanical data or archaeological constructions. The method of experimental archaeology answers questions of how, why, and what. These questions were often ignored in...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This paper seeks to set out briefly the philosophy and implications of experimental work in archaeology today and makes the case that such experimental work is fundamental both to archaeological technique and to improved interpretation. Emphasis is placed upon the need to focus far greater objective attention onto the archaeological material with increased multiplicity of interpretation as the inevitable result. A discussion of the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project presents its aims,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Reynolds opens the debate towards experimental archaeology as a science which was long ignored by archaeologists. A working Iron Age farm, dated to 300 BC and a Roman Villa are described as projects in this book. The constructors were confronted with climate extremes in Britain and trails to material. The experiments force the participants to rethink, reevaluate, and recreate their tests and trails. The farms included also agricultural experiments, such as grain storage. Concluding P.J....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter J. Reynolds.

This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The aim of this paper is to explain the principles of the storage of grain in underground pits and to present an interim summary of the results so far obtained from a long-term series of grain storage experiments and their implications. At the outset it must be made clear that the trends indicated by the results are, in fact, trends and that the implications presented are to be considered accordingly. A major problem that besets any experimental research programme, especially in the field of...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The remarkably detailed evidence of the house or houses recovered by excavation at Pimperne Down allowed a rare opportunity' to explore the physical nature of a large Iron Age roundhouse by attempting a one-to-one scale reconstruction. That there were two houses. The replacement built most probably immediately after the first. has been ably demonstrated by the excavators. Similarly, that the porch area in the south-east quadrant of the house was common to both structures is beyond question. The...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This article reports on agricultural experiments on the Butser Ancient Farm, testing emmer and spelt. The article introduces Butser Ancient Farm, including the four locations, which are in four different climatic zones. Some of these agricultural lands seem inhospitable. The soil is described in detail in order to understand agricultural changes and how tools affected the soil. Another debate in the articles focuses on the treatment of weeds. Two constant factors were maintained throughout...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

In any discussion concerning the report past especially for the people and places outside the classical world there is a preconceived nition that a mean subsistence regime was in place until the gift of civilisation was made, in the case of the Celts, in the form of conquest by the Romans.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Field walking has been traditional activity in Britain since the turn of the century. Given the large numbers of amateur archaeological societies spread countrywide, aside from the annual summer excavation, the major activity of these societies usually in the winter has been to walk areas within their regions fairly regularly if not systematically. It is normal, for example, to have special areas where sites are known and rewards will be commensurately high. Such sites therefore become...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

The purpose of this paper is to explain briefly the range of research, both past and current being conducted into the problem of understanding the prehistoric practice of storing grain in underground pits. The specific period in question is the British Iron Age, c. 150 B.C. - 43 A.D. The archaeological and documentary evidence suggests that some of the ubiquitous pits discovered on native lron Age sites on the majority of the subsoil types in England were used for the bulk storage of grain....

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Text from Reynold's inaugural lecture for the Wessex Lecture series, given in 1983.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

This article reports of the experimental project of harvesting emmer and spelt wheat with Iron Age techniques at Butser Ancient Farm. It addresses problems and theoretical improvements as well as what to do with failed crops during the Iron Age in Britain. The experiment was confronted with harsh weather conditions, as they might have occurred in the Iron Age too.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

The Agriculture of the Iron Age Experimental archaeology endeavors to improve the techniques of excavation and analysis by trying to find the conditions in which archaeological structures have been formed. Rather than simulating the lives of men at the Iron Age, Peter Reynolds' team preferred to develop an experimental farm to take into account and study all the farm activities of that period. The temporal dimension of this project makes it possible to study the evolution of a plant or animal...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The construction of the Pimperne Round House and its subsequent dismantlement have already been reported (Harding, Blake & Reynolds 1993). This paper seeks to focus upon one specific aspect/discovery made during the dismantlement process which has considerable significance for future analysis of prehistoric round houses on two specific events: first, the projected longevity of such a structure, and second, the nature of materials finds from principal post-holes. For these latter, the probability...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds. R. T. Schadla-Hall.

This article concerns the plough damage done to archaeological artifacts and data by agricultural tools. The results are used to establish better guidelines for excavation

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

A simple experiment was carried out to build a short length of fence based upon the evidence of rock cut stake/post holes from a number of sites in Catalonia and from the abundant illustrations of mediaeval fences especially in the Books of Hours. The primary objective was to make an assessment of the quantity of materials necessary for such a fence, and the implications of those materials for specific husbandry practices, along with an evaluation of the tools required by such an operation. A...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The Butser Ancient Farm was established near Petersfield in l972 as the only open air research laboratory devoted to prehistoric agriculture and archaeology in the world. Director, PETER REYNOLDS, does not dress up in skins, or paint his face blue. He is not eccentric. Here is his very personal statement.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The object of this paper is to explore the nature of experiment in archaeology today and to asses its potential role in so far as it may confirm or deny interpretations of excavated data.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This is a short description of an archaeological experiment. The first roman hypocaust built with the original material in about 1600 years in Hampshire, Britain.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Article for Popular Archaeology on Iron Age pit technology: types, interpretation, and excavation.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

The received picture of springtime in the remote past is of primitive farmers struggling to plough up their tiny fields with stick ploughs which do no more than scratch the surface of the soil. Looking at modern Iandscapes with multi-hectare sized fields, huge tractors and multi-shared ploughs, perhaps this picture is a forgivable one. Maybe forgivable, but is it true? Did Iron Age farmers have to struggle with primitive equipment which if not by definition, certainly by implication, was...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

In recent yeats the topsoil or ploughzone in the rural context has recevied increasing attention and today, because of the escalating costs of excavation and the dwindling resources provided for archaeology, that attention is being further intensified. Financial constraint, however, is not the only motivation. The results of aerial survey and organised field walking have shown that excavation can only examine a minimal percentage of the known sites, a percentage which rapidly decreases as modern...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Field walking has been and continues to be an important, if not critical, element of fieldwork in British archaeology, In practice this means systematically across ploughed fields, especially after heavy rain which washes clean objects on the soil surface, looking for evidence of occupation sites primarily by the discover of scatters or concentrations of pottery sherds.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

Our knowledge of past landscapes is drawn from a number of different sources. Primarily we rely upon assemblages of carbonised and charred seeds recovered from excavations of settlement sites of different periods. Alternatively pollen grains preserved in acid soil conditions, usually peat bogs, allow us to identify vegetation through time even down to individual plants. The third source, no Iess significant but unfortunately much rarer, are waterlogged deposits were normally biodegradable...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

If ever there was a building boom it has to be in the business of reconstructing the past. In the last decade throughout Britain and Europe more prehistoric houses have been built than at any time since they were built with the serious intent of domestic occupation. It is, of course, a critical element in the process of interpreting the past, in making sense of patterns of post-holes or the waterlogged stumps of posts and stakes. However, the reasons for building all these structures rarely...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

In the summer of 1966 an experiment to reconstruct an Iron Age hut took place on Bredon Hill.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

There is little doubt but that Biskupin represents one of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries of this century. Claimed to be the Pompeii of the north, while it does not exactly compete, there is a great degree of truth in the claim that to date it supplies vastly more insight into an early iron Age occupation site than virtually any other. That this is the case, particularly for the structures, is discussed in this contribution.

DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter J. Reynolds. David E Johnston.

This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds. J. K. Langley.

In 1975 during excavations of a multi-period occupation site in Redlands Gravel Quarry, Foxholes Farm, Hertford, four structures commonly known as corn-drying ovens were discovered. All of these structures could be firmly dated to the fourth century A.D. Three were badly damaged but one was found to be almost intact and standing to virtually-the original height of the drying floor at one metre high although the floor itself and superstructure had disappeared. The substructure was in such an...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

In just the same way as it is impossible to isolate the Celts, so it is to determine a specific kind of agriculture which might be described as 'Celtic'. That agriculture formed the basic economy of Europe and the Mediterranean zone by the first millennium BC is not in question. However, outside the classical world our knowledge of the nature of agriculture is severely restricted by the lack of any significant documentary sources. A few tantalising references occur in the works of Greek and...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

The purpose of this paper was to explore the scientific basis of building reconstruction of prehistoric and protohistoric houses. The critical issue was to address the problems of reconstruction in order to specify limits within which the reconstruction is of research/ educational value and to set standards which may act as guidelines. Case studies referenced include Maiden Castle House, the Balksbury House, the Conderton House, Stake Houses, the Pimperne House, Romano-British Grain driers,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

During the last decade a major research program has been carried out at the Butser Ancient Farm to explore the annual movement of simulated potsherds in the plough soil under a continuous arable regime (Reynolds 1986).The reasons for this program lie in the fundamental question of whether the topsoil overlaying an archaeological site should be regarded as worthy of excavation in that the artefacts it may contain still bear a relationship to underlying features and therefore will have some...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

During the last decade a major research programme has been carried out at the Butser Ancient Farm to explore the annual movement of simulated potsherds in the ploughsoil under a continuous arable regime (Reynolds 1986). The reasons for this programme lie in the fundamental question of whether the topsoil overlaying an archaeological site should be regarded as worthy of excavation in that the artefacts it may contain still bear a relationship to underlying features and therefore will have some...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

At the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project in Hampshire, a slash and burn experiment has been carried out on a limited area of cleared old woodland. The purpose was to examine the comparative yield performance of emmer wheat on burned and unburned plots within an artificial clearing and thereafter the natural plant regeneration. The growing experiment ran for four seasons by which time the yield return equaled the seed sown. This stage corresponded with the drought of 1976 and does not...

DOCUMENT Full-Text R. A. Hill. J. Lacey. Peter J. Reynolds.

This resource is a citation record only, the Center for Digital Antiquity does not have a copy of this document. The information in this record has been migrated into tDAR from the EXARC Bibliography, originally compiled by Roeland Paardekooper, and updated. Most of these records consist of a document citation and other metadata but do not have the documents themselves uploaded. If you have a digital copy of the document and would like to have it curated in tDAR, please contact us using the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

This paper considers briefly the implications of stake-holes and post-holes with special reference to their structural and constructional qualities, and those factors which may affect their archaeological form. the case studies of two specific reconstructions of Iron Age round-houses are presented. The first is a post- and stake-built structure based on an excavation at Pimperne Down, Dorest. The second is a stone-built structure based on the excavation of Conderton Camp on Bredon Hill, Wors. In...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds. Christine Shaw.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the agricultural practices of the peasant class during the first millennium, particularly the Medieval period. The paper also discusses the social aspects of this "lower" class and how their "physical toil of food production" directly effected the landscape, dietary norms, and the economy.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

A Protohistoric Farm in England This article focuses on experimental agriculture and its unique quest to understand and master traditional agricultural practices. The focus of these studies primarily involve activities conducted during the protohistoric and early historic periods. The Butser Ancient Farm, in Hampshire, England, is specifically used to describe and discuss experimental agriculture.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

"There is little doubt that during the first century A.D. the typical cereals under cultivation were as in the preceding century, namely Emmer (Triticum dicoccum), Spelt (Triticum spefta), Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum), Club wheat (Triticum compactum), Barley (Hordeum vulgare) and probably oats (Avena sativa). From the extant representations of both vallus and carpentum, it is unclear which cereal is depicted. However, it is the belief of this writer that the invention of the reaping machine...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

This paper represents an assay into the vexed area of prehistoric and in particular Iron Age agriculture. This is offered rather more as a polemic than a statement and is designed to provoke argument rather than agreement. The majority of the experimental data from which the arguments are raised is drawn from the current research programs at the Butser Ancient Farm Research Project, Hampshire.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J. Reynolds.

First Bohunt Lecture, given at Bohunt School 23rd April, 1980.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Peter J Reynolds.

"On the origin of carbonised cereal grain in prehistoric settlements: an alternative interpretation" This is an English translation of a German article focusing on prehistoric carbonized cereal grain. ln the analysis of samples of carbonized seeds from prehistoric sites, the regular presumption is that these are the productof cereal or food processing. This paper presents the results of an extended series of trials which explore an alternative source of this type of evidence.