Butser Ancient Farm

Butser Ancient Farm is an open-air museum and experimental archaeology site in Hampshire. It shows reconstructions of prehistoric, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon buildings. Visitors see Neolithic dwellings, Iron Age roundhouses, a Romano-British villa and an early Saxon house. The farm was founded in 1970 by the Council for British Archaeology. Peter J. Reynolds became its first director in 1972. The site has moved twice since then, first to Hillscombe Down and then to Bascombe Copse. The farm is important because archaeologists use it to study ancient farming and domestic life. Mick Aston said that most reconstruction drawings of Iron Age settlements in books come from work done here. It has also hosted television series and public events like workshops and re-enactments. The buildings themselves are experiments in ancient construction techniques. Some roundhouses weigh many tonnes and use massive oak frames and thick thatch roofs. A visitor walks past Neolithic houses with gable ends of wattle and daub or split oak. Bronze Age and Iron Age roundhouses stand inside an enclosure with grain pits and an Iron Age toilet. The largest roundhouse has a diameter of 14.5 metres and uses twelve tonnes of oak in its frame. There is also a Roman villa wing based on excavations near Winchester. The farm’s visitor centre, added in 2013, completes the experience.