Experimental Archaeology from the Past

Here at YAC we love to hear all about what our members and leaders get up to. Janet, Rothwell, Leader at Chiltern YAC, tells us about a little discovery she recently made….

Back in June 2008 I was fortunate to go to my very first YAC Leaders Training session – a weekend at Butser Ancient Farm. Wonderful to have the chance to sleep in a roundhouse but we discovered how messy it is to sleep on a chalk floor. Anyway, one of our experimental activities was to make an “Iron Age Grain Store” to see how well the grains keep in clay lined “pits”.

So in true YAC “here’s one I made earlier” style, I decided to take my pot along in January and investigate the contents with the group. My little grain store is actually older than any of the current members of Chiltern YAC, so a real piece of history.

We all discussed whether the grain would have survived as we could see some cracks in the clay and the modern cling film and rubber band had also disintegrated, so opinion was divided.

Then I “excavated” the ancient grain store container…

And to our surprise the grain was dry, not sprouted or mouldy and looks good to sow or grind! The next experiment will be to plant some of the grains and see if we can get a crop. It has definitely proved that clay pits could have been an effective way of storing grain in the Iron Age, but I bet they didn’t leave it for so long before using it. Experimental archaeology at its’ best.

Janet Rothwell

Chiltern YAC Co-Leader