Painted roundhouse
We have had another day of making paint using milk curds (with a touch of lime) as the binding agent and earth colours for the pigment (ochres and chalk). As […]
Category Archives: Prehistory
How to make an Iron Age oven
An oven is being made in the roundhouse based on the ones discovered at Glastonbury Lake Village. It is 2 feet (61cm) in diameter internally with walls 4 inches (10cm) […]
Roundhouse and the lion’s paw
The reed thatch on the roundhouse is nearing completion. Rather thicker than they would probably have gone for in the Iron Age, as the whole building would only be expected […]
When is a roundhouse not round?
Work on the Iron Age roundhouse has continued with the walls and roof dome all now sufficiently woven with hazel. The short ridge line, coupled with the porch inset into […]
Storms and space
The latest storm took a toll on the roundhouse but the first layer of thatch was repaired and packed in really tight. The next wave of gales will give it […]
Roundhouse thatching
After a long break we can begin thatching the roundhouse roof again. This winter has been so wet that our friends at the RSPB Ham Wall nature reserve have been […]
Blast from the Past
On the last Sunday in August the Avalon Archaeology site had its first ‘Blast from the Past‘ ancient music day. Tim Hill very kindly brought his musical expertise to demonstrate […]
Experiments with thatch
For the last two Wednesdays the team have been experimenting with differing ways of attaching thatch to the roundhouse porch. There is always a danger with such work that the […]
We’re open this Sunday!
At long last, seven years of dedicated effort by the hands on heritage volunteers (aka Axe Club) has brought us to the day when we can finally let the public […]
Carnyx and Cornu
They may sound like two French cartoon characters, but they are in fact ancient musical instruments. We have replicas of both, which have just been tweeked to perfection by the […]
'Hands on Heritage' in the Avalon Marshes 