Bronze Age Settlement Excavated in England

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—Archaeologists have discovered a 3,000-year-old farm settlement in the town of Ipswich ahead of road construction, according to a report from BBC News. At the site, they have uncovered a cremation cemetery including 18 burials along with a substantial amount of pottery, two roundhouses, and several other structures. The discovery of the cemetery marks a shift in burial practices from earlier in the Bronze Age, when people were interred in monuments and barrows. Radiocarbon dating has established that the settlement was used for at least 400 years, from roughly 1200 to 800 B.C. “This means many generations of people were living within that landscape,” said Chris Thatcher of Oxford Archaeology. “We can also see shifting cultural practices and that's why sites like this, with a decent block of evidence that we can confidently date, are so significant.” Other discoveries at the site include a clay spindle whorl used to spin yarn and a rare flint quern used to hand-grind grain into flour. To read in-depth about another Bronze Age settlement in England, go to “Fire in the Fens.”