Flag Fen, Peterborough: Excavation and Research 1995-2007

by Francis Pryor, Michael Bamforth

The site at Flag Fen lies at the centre of a once-wet Fenland bay, immediately east of Peterborough. In the Bronze Age a huge alignment of posts crossed a kilometer of wetland to link the two sides of one of the most important and intensively studied prehistoric landscapes in Britain. This volume discusses work carried out at Flag Fen since the completion, in 1995, of the comprehensive Flag Fen Basin Report (EH Archaeology Report, 2001). That monograph published results from the excavations of the Bronze Age platform and the western (Fengate) landfall of the post alignment. Picking up where the last publication left off, this volume looks at the risk to the waterlogged, in-situ prehistoric remains on the site in the context of ongoing de-watering of the Fengate area. In addition it includes detailed investigations of the post alignment's previously unpublished eastern (Northey Island) landfall. New research including oxygen isotope analyses of animal teeth provides interesting, and at times surprising, insights into the economy and the complex role played by domestic animals. The volume also includes a re-assessment of the role that large timbers played at Flag Fen, and elsewhere in Bronze Age Britain.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2010

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

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical reports on these fascinating digs - dense reading in places but with some useful details.