Flag Fen: A Concise Archæoguide

by Francis Pryor

Flag Fen is one of the best-preserved Late Bronze Age sites yet found in Britain. It was discovered in 1982 and consists of many tens of thousands of timbers which were driven into the muddy waters of a fen on the outskirts of modern Peterborough, between about 1300 and 900 BC. Hundreds of valuable objects, including swords, daggers and jewellery, were dropped into the water around the timbers, as offerings.

Flag Fen was opened to the public in 1987 and is now a major visitor attraction. It was also the subject of a first-of-its-kind crowdsourced and crowdfunded archaeological dig during the summer of 2012, organised by Digventures.

This specially commissioned work, written by archaeologist and discoverer of Flag Fen, Francis Pryor MBE, provides a concise companion to anyone seeking an authoritative introduction to this remarkable site.

Contents:

1 The Fens in a Nutshell
2 Background: The Landscape of Flag Fen
3 The Discovery of Flag Fen
4 The Post Alignment
5 The Platform
6 The Finds
7 The Religious Ceremonies
8 Interpretation: What Does it all Mean?
9 Wood, Wheels and Status
10 The Sophistication of Ancient Technology
11 Flag Fen and the Public
12 Flag Fen Threatened
13 Flag Fen: The Future


About the Author

Francis Pryor has been researching the Fens of Eastern England since 1970. During this work he has revealed and excavated a number of preserved prehistoric landscapes including a large tract of land immediately east of Peterborough. This landscape was known as Fengate, or 'road to the fen' by the Vikings and it has produced some of the finest preserved prehistoric sites in Europe, including Flag Fen, which was first discovered by Pryor and his team in 1982.

Genres: Archaeology, History, Reference

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Francis Manning Marlborough Pryor MBE (born 13 January 1945) is a British archaeologist who is famous for his role in the discovery of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological site near Peterborough, and for his frequent appearances on the Channel 4 television series Time Team.

He has now retired from full-time field archaeology, but still appears on television and writes books as well as being a working farmer. His specialities are in the Bronze and Iron Ages.

His first novel, Lifers’ Club, is due to be published in 2014.

Reviews

[Lesley Arrowsmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on archaeology I've read for a long time. The descriptions of how the digs were organised really took me back to when I was working in archaeology.
I visited around 1990 and saw the "lake village" on the mere that he's now so embarrassed about.

[Carlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The archaeological site of Flag Fen is known internationally because of the preservation of Bronze and early Iron Age wood and timber (about 1300BCE onwards). It was a Bronze Age causeway or trackway (Pryor calls it a post alignment, because of its significance as something other than just a transport route) across the wetland that separated Fengate from Northey ‘island’ near Peterborough in the UK. But it was also a barrier that separated the Flag Fen basin from the open fen (in the past marshy and usually flooded in winter) to the north and east.

I first read about this fascinating site in English Heritage Book Of Flag Fen: Prehistoric Fenland Centre by Francis T. Pryor in 1992 and visited the public visitor centre on a lovely warm summer day in about 2010. The site is so special because a small section of the causeway can be viewed "in situ" in the large Preservation Hall (where the wood is kept moist with regular water spray using a sprinkler system).

This short book (published for the Kindle) provides a brief but very interesting overview of the discovery of the archaeological site and the possible significance of the post alignment (causeway), which probably held some religious significance because of the large number of finds (over 300 examples of metal work, plus unused corn-grinding stones and pottery).
It also has a couple of really interesting short chapters about the technology (the physical processes) used to create the wooden posts and other objects found at the site.

A great and very enthusiastic introduction.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much Pryor, nevertheless a good introduction.