Broken Rocks, Fired Clay and Soured Milk – A Summer of Experiments with the Bamburgh Research Project at the Bradford Kaims Site

Abstract

The Bamburgh Research Project operates an archaeological field school every summer in Northumberland, England. We have two sites: one located at seaside Bamburgh Castle and the other a few miles away inland at the Bradford Kaims. The Bradford Kaims is located on the edge of a wetland and has shown evidence for prehistoric seasonal human occupation. Features and artefacts found on site include burnt mounds, post holes, worked wood, and lithics/debitage (Gardner et al 2015). Over the summer of 2016, we conducted an Experimental Archaeology Programme at the Bradford Kaims in an attempt to better understand the processes involved behind the features and artefacts found at the site. We focussed on processes we could acquire materials for, which included flint knapping, prehistoric pottery, and prehistoric glue.

Keywords

• flint knapping
• ceramics
• glue
• experiment
• mesolithic
• neolithic
• chalcolithic
• bronze age
• united kingdom