Time Team: The 98 series

Programme 2: Greylake, Somerset

Secrets of the wetlands

In prehistoric times, the Somerset Levels consisted primarily of marshland with occasional high ground supporting human habitation. Boats couldn't cross the expansive bogs, and walking on it was out of the question, so ingenious wooden trackways stretching for hundreds of metres were built.

Time Team had just three days to find out if vague reports of excavations at Greylake in 1926 and 1939 actually pinpointed the peat-preserved remains of one of these trackways, now buried under drained agricultural fields. (Because of its water content, peat is one of the few mediums that prevents ancient wood from rotting.) The very first trench revealed amazingly well-preserved wooden finds, but other evidence uncovered pointed to a possibly darker purpose for the site.

While the archaeology is going on, Tony and Phil lead a virtual army of woodwork experts, armed with prehistoric tools, on a practical exercise to build an exact replica of the trackway. It proves to be one of Time Team's greatest learning experiences!

What is this orange golfball?

Has Mick Aston taken up a new hobby, has Time Team uncovered previously unknown origins of the game or does it have a lot to tell us about the Somerset Levels during prehistoric times?

It is, of course, the goosefoot pollen discovered by our environmental archaeology experts in Trench 1. According to McClintock & Fitter (Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers), goosefoots 'are mostly unattractive mealy [ie soft, powdery] annual weeds, prostrate or growing to 6-18in [15-46cm]. Their leaves are usually stalked, thick, toothed and alternate, and their small greenish petalless flowers are in spikes.' They are more common on disturbed ground.

The following information – from the venerable Mrs M Grieve in A Modern Herbal (1931) – may give us some idea as how this plant (as the type known as Good King Henry) may have been used in the distant past:

The leaves used to be boiled in broth, but were principally gathered, when young and tender, and cooked as a pot-herb. In Lincolnshire, they are still eaten in place of spinach ... In common with several other closely allied plants, it was sometimes called 'Blite' (from the Greek, bliton, insipid). Evelyn says in his Acetaria, 'it is well-named being insipid enough.' Nevertheless, it is a very wholesome vegetable. If grown on rich soil, the young shoots, when as thick as a lead pencil, may be cut when 5 inches [12.7 cm] in height, peeled and boiled as asparagus. They are gently laxative ...

The roots were given to sheep as a remedy for cough and the seeds have found employment in the manufacture of shagreen. The plant is said to have been used in Germany for fattening poultry.

Resources

Websites

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The Sweet Track
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~aburnham/eng/sweet.htm
An elevated footpath running for almost 2km across the Somerset levels swamps, the Sweet Track is a supreme example of Neolithic engineering and is 6000 years old.

Organisations

Peat Moors Visitor Centre
The Willows
Shapwick Road
Westhay
Glastonbury BA6 9TT
Tel: (01458) 860697
Replica of an Iron-Age settlement and wooden trackways. Craft demonstrations most weekends, a number offer 'hands on' experience. Telephone for details.

Butser Ancient Farm
www.skcldv.demon.co.uk/iafintro.htm
Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire, is a replica of a British Iron-Age farm circa 300 BC.

Books

Prehistory of the Somerset Levels by John and Bryony Coles (Somerset Levels Project, 1982) paperback £1.95
A compact guidebook, only 64 pages long, but including everything you could want to know about the Sweet Track, Glastonbury and Meare Lake Village.

The Lake Villages of Somerset by Stephen Minnit and John Coles (Glastonbury Antiquarian Society/Somerset Levels Project/Somerset County Council Museums, 1996)

Enlarging the Past by John and Bryony Coles (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1996) hardback £22.50
The history of wetland archaeology is traced through its major landmarks, with renowned excavations, including the Somerset Sweet Track, being set in a global context. Lively and informative.

Bronze Age Britain by Michael Parker Pearson (Batsford/English Heritage, 1996) paperback £15.99
Based on the prehistoric evidence, as well as current research and debate, this book examines how life in Britain changed during the period 4000-900 BC. Illustrated with lots of maps, plans, reconstructions and photographs.

Flag Fen by Francis Pryor (Batsford/English Heritage, 1991) paperback £15.99
Fascinating account of the discovery of another waterlogged site, this one a mysterious Bronze-Age wooden platform near Peterborough. An exciting archaeological adventure story.

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