Evidence of domestic life in prehistoric times is scanty, but this is not surprising for, unlike the ceremonial structures, houses were not built to last for centuries. How many of our civilisation’s brick boxes will still be visible in 6,000 years’ time? There are, nevertheless, still enough remains to give us some idea of the different kinds of houses that were in use over a period of 4,000 years until the coming of Christianity. Before the Neolithic/New Stone. Age, in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods, the people are thought to have been largely nomadic and caves were used as shelters. 'Phey also used huts, of which a few traces have been found, as at. Abinger Common (Surrey), where a pit, post-holes, a hearth and microlithic implements were found, dating to around 6000 BC. At the caves known to have been occupied, middens or rubbish heaps have revealed the remains of creatures long since extinct in Britain - mammoth, hyena, bear, lion, woolly rhinoceros, wolf-and traces of flint flakes, harpoons made of bone, and other items.
The settlements of Neolithic peoples have rarely survived, unlike their impressive chambered tombs and henge monuments. Bv far the most impressive surviving. Neolithic houses are at Knap of Howar on Papa W estray island in the Orkneys (see ‘Places to Visit’). Two rectangular houses lie side by side, surrounded by middens whose contents showed what food the people ate, and which helped to date the site to around 3500 BC. .Modern man’s rubbish tips will probably be of equal fascination to fiftieth-century archaeologists (assuming mankind survives that long).
Back in the south of England, the earliest homes to have survived date from the Bronze. Age, and by contrast with the remains at Knap of Howar, are very ruinous. Because of intensive cultivation, most settlements have long since disappeared. The outlines of farmsteads, house platforms, fields, and trackways, low banks and ditches visible only to the practised eye, have been located, but in the stonier upland areas, hut circles
Have also survived - small circles of rocks and boulders, a number of them close together and encircled by the remains of a stone wall. On Dartmoor these settlements are called pounds, and are probably of late Bronze. Age or early Iron. Age date.
The remains of about 150 huts can be seen inside Craig Rhncarth hillfort near Llangynog (Pouys).
.Moving into the Iron. Age, the evidence becomes more plentiful. In Cornwall there are groups of ‘courtyard houses’, the best preserved example being Chysauster, each house consisting of a courtyard with small rooms leading off it. Drains, hearths, querns for grinding corn, and plenty of pottery fragments were found, enough material to enable archaeologists to build up a picture of life in such a village 2,000 years ago. .Also in the Iron. Age, the great hillforts were being built (see Chapter 5). rheir purpose is still uncertain, but they may have had both domestic and defensive functions. 'I'races of huts have often been found inside them, showing that people certainly lived there. .Also perhaps with a view to protecting themselves
Against raiders, some groups of people built settlements in lakes and marshes. In Ireland, such lake dwellings (called‘eranndgs’) have been found to date back to the late Bronze Age, though thev were mainly built in early Christian times, and some were still in use into the Norman period. They are also known in western Scotland. They consisted of artificial islands, made of stakes and brushwood, with huts built on a platform. In County Clare, a cranndg has been reconstructed, and this provides a vivid picture of an unusual type of dwelling. Such experiments can also provide much valuable information for archaeologists, as is the case at the long-term Butser Iron Age Farm Project in Hampshire (see ‘Places to Visit’). Not only have authentic buildings been constructed, but people have lived there totally cut off from the twentieth century, in order to reproduce the way of life of the Iron.ge farmer.
.At the same time, a long way away in northern Scotland, peasant farmers were also hard at work, and as elsewhere in Britain, hillforts had been constructed during the Iron Age. However, towards the end of the Iron Age, around 100 BC, a remarkable architectural development took place, and from the earliest fortified dwellings the broch grew up. ‘Grew up’ literally, because a broch was a tall stone tower, 40-50 feet high. Such buildings were unique in Britain: ‘not only do they represent the summit of prehistoric drystone architectural achievement, but they also seem to be the only really elaborate ancient buildings which were invented and developed entirely in Scotland’ (Kuan V. .MacKie in his valuable hoos Scotland: An Archaeological Guide). Inside the broch was an inner wall, with between the two walls a staircase and a series of galleries one above another. Brochs were probably the equivalent of the later Norman castles, their function primarily being a refuge for the nobility in times of strife, though as with castles some may also have been permanent living quarters. A number of brochs survive in good condition, though the walls are rarely as tall as when first constructed, and the interiors are ruinous. From the broch probably developed the wheelhouse, circular stone buildings peculiar to the northern isles, examples of which can still be seen on Shetland and in the Outer Hebrides.
In Ireland, where stone forts had also been built in the Iron. Age, the stone buildings often constructed inside the forts eventually developed into the characteristic ‘clochans’, beehive-shaped huts with drystone walls. These were largely built during the early Christian period, and those which s. irvive are found at religious settlements. Good examples can be seen at the early monastic settlements on the island of Inishmurray (Co. Sligo) and Skellig Michael (Co. Kerry), a rocky island and difficult of access, which is probably why the ruins are so well preserved. There are six clochans in fine condition, with dry-stone walls 6 feet thick. Small retaining walls seen outside probably contained tiny gardens to provide a more varied diet for the monks who lived there.
I'he tradition of building beehive-shaped huts has been maintained in Ireland right into the present century. Only a few decades ago they were still being built, but as pigsties. The sweathouse was a very similar structure, examples of whieh can be found in Leitrim, Cavan, Fermanagh and 'Fyrone, although they are not being actively preserved, and are therefore tending to deteriorate. They are not prehistoric buildings, but date from any time since the Vikings, and were in regular use in past centuries. As their name suggests, they were the ancient equivalent of the sauna, a form of communal steam bath. Heat was built up by means of a fire for several days beforehand, then water may have been thrown on to hot stones to make steam, before small groups of people went inside the sweathouse unclothed. Afterwards they would often bathe in a nearby stream or pour water over themselves. I'his procedure was mainly followed as a cure for rheumatic complaints, but was probably also done to promote a feeling of well-being, as in saunas today.
One other uniquely Irish structure deserves mention here, as it is in some ways reminiseent of the Scottish broch. 'Phis is the round tower, whose tall, thin shape still dominates many religious sites in Ireland. .Around sixty-five survive, though only a few are intact. ('I’hree round towers were built outside Ireland - on the Isle of. Man and in eastern Scotland - so they are not totally unique to Ireland, though virtually so.) 'I'he earliest dates from. AD 940 and they are thought to have been built as belfries, watchtowers, places of refuge and, similar to church spires, as symbols of man’s reaching up to Heaven. I'hey were not really practical as long-term houses, not even as defensive shelters, because a fire lit at the base would soon burn the wooden floors and rise quickly up through the structure.
.Although settlements of all ages, from the earliest cave dwellings to the Iron. Age and early Christian stone structures, provide some evidence of our ancestors’ lifestyle, the middens which contain the most valuable material hold only items which have not decayed, and therefore many potentially valuable items, such as clothing, are rarely found. .A major discovery
Stieathouse at Atinagh Upper (Co. Leitrim), built of stone and covered icith sods.
During the summer of 1984 is likely to add greatly to our knowledge of Iron Age man, when the tests have been completed. I'his is the well preserved body of an Iron. Age man, 2,500 years old and found in a peat bog near Wilmslow (Cheshire). He was King crouched in a foetal position, and his head, trunk and a severed leg have survived. He was discovered when the men working a peat-cutting machine spotted a human foot, though not before the machine had damaged the corpse. Experts have found that ‘Pete Marsh’, as he has been nicknamed, was a twenty to thirty-year-old man with a ginger beard. His Hesh, skin and hair have all been preserved. He had been garotted - a ligature of animal sinew was still visible round his neck. He may have been a criminal, or a sacrificial victim, or both. When the tests are finished, he will be put on display at the British Museum. It is almost certain that many other bodies lie preserved in peat bogs. In 1850 the well-preserved body of a Romano-British man was found in a peat bog on Grewelthorpe Moor (North Yorkshire). He was wearing a green cloak, a scarlet garment, yellow stockings and leather sandals. Many preserved bodies have been found elsewhere in Europe, Danish finds being described in Dr P. V. Glob’s marvellous book The Bog People.
World History
