Flint tools and wooden bowls

Ros Ereira, Cameo Producer

Ros Ereira, Time Team cameo producer, explains the experimental archaeology involved in the reconstruction cameo for the Northborough programme.

Initially, I was struggling to think of what the cameo for this Neolithic site could be, as we'll see Phil making flint tools at South Perrott later in this series. However, we thought it might be a nice idea to see these tools in action, and see how they work.

Maisie Taylor told me about the wooden bowls that had been found at Etton, another causewayed enclosure that is very near our site, and I was fascinated. It seemed that there had been no research done into how these bowls were made. So we had a perfect opportunity to do some original experimental archaeology into the techniques that might have been used to produce them; which parts of the tree were best suited to the purpose (which in turn might tell us something about the way that trees were maintained in the period); and how the flint tools stood up to such vigorous usage.

Phil made us some beautiful tools to use, including a chisel and a scraper, and added handles onto them. The idea that these tools may have been hafted is controversial, but we certainly found them easier to use than those that were not. In spite of this, I still managed to get myself completely covered in charcoal during the process!

The bowls we ended up with were really very lovely objects, and Maisie was able to take them away to put in the reconstructed roundhouses at Flag Fen.

Read Maisie Taylor on how the wooden bowls were produced.

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