Reconstructing the past
Visitors to Castell Henllys Iron Age fort in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in West Wales look upon a sight that takes them back in time 2,300 years, to late prehistoric Britain. They see a reconstructed Iron Age settlement, consisting of three massive thatched roundhouses, a smithy, and a round thatch-roofed grain store, which is raised off the ground on four posts, with a fence around the front.
Castell Henllys is the only Iron Age fort in Britain to have been (partially) reconstructed. Here buildings have been reconstructed on sites previously excavated by archaeologists, using evidence recovered from the excavation.
Archaeological sites
'Most Iron Age archaeological sites reveal only a small part of what was there originally.'
Most Iron Age (and other) archaeological sites reveal only a small part of what was there originally. This is because organic material such as wood, leather, rope and thatching reed rot away very quickly under most conditions.
So an Iron Age fort might be easy to see today if its earthwork ramparts are still standing, but evidence for the houses, storage buildings and animal pens within would only survive underground, mainly in the form of foundation trenches, post holes, packing stones and sometimes floor surfaces. Even when the walls of roundhouses were made from stone, little more than the foundations survive, usually because building stone would be reused once the roundhouse was abandoned.
Published: 01-07-2001
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