Butser Ancient Farm

Ailz said she thought square buildings must have developed from round buildings but the man who was remaking the chalk floor in one of the houses said, no,  it was the other way. First we built square but then- having chopped down all the older trees- we had to start using immature ones- and you can only build strong with flimsy materials if you build in the round. Apparently Britain is the only part of Europe to develop round houses. Elsewhere the forests were bigger and they didn't run out of trees.

I'd seen round houses on TV but there's nothing like going inside one and walking around and taking a seat by the central fire. Round houses are welcoming.  They're cosy. It felt like coming home.

Tell you one thing, everybody in the iron age must have stunk of woodsmoke.



Iron age round houses



Neolithic long house



Prehistoric pig