Veterans help with Bronze Age roundhouse reconstruction

A Bronze Age roundhouse has been reconstructed with the help of military veterans.

The project at Butser Ancient Farm near Chalton, Hampshire, aimed to recreate a building excavated at Dunch Hill near Tidworth, Wiltshire, in 2020.

Archaeologists worked with the veterans to experiment with building techniques that could have been used for the original construction 3,000 years ago.

RAF veteran Jacqui Hutchins said it was a "fascinating" insight into the past.

The volunteers were recruited through Operation Nightingale - an MoD scheme to help assist the recovery of wounded and sick military personnel and veterans by involving them in archaeological investigations.

The team experimented with different building techniques to try to establish the most likely method used for the original construction.

In particular they investigated the construction of the walls holding up the roof.

Archaeologist Claire Walton said: "Archaeological evidence from famous sites like Danebury Hill Fort has suggested that some pre-historic roundhouses may have had banked earth walls retained by wattle internal panels.

"The academic community is particularly excited to document the 'mass' earth walling technique being applied here."

The veterans have also been learning about aspects of Bronze Age life from making pottery to spears.

Ms Hutchins, 65, said the project had been a "great release from everyday life".

"Once you've been in the forces and you leave, there's a gap, there's a hole in your life a bit, so to be able to speak to like-minded people is brilliant, there aren't so many boundaries."

The completed roundhouse will be open for the public to see at the Butser Ancient Farm attraction.

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