Nature Diary Rocks History Gallery Home Page 
A PICTURE in a book, or a computer reconstruction, can tell you so much about the past, but from a detached point of view. The reconstructions at the Parc Archelogique in Villeneuve d'Ascq bring it closer to home. They are made of authentic materials, using the techniques available at the time.
No wonder I feel nostalgia; generations of our ancestors must have lived in buildings very like this.
Neolithic Period
The Neolithic longhouse is the type of dwelling built by the first farmers in northern Europe. There are no windows and only one doorway. The house is divided into areas; food was stored at the far end while work was carried out near the door, sheltered from the elements but with plenty of light. Twenty or thirty people, an extended family, would live in each house with a maximum of six or seven houses forming a village. This was the limit set by the productivity of the agriculture of the time.There were no political leaders; the elders were consulted on decisions affecting the community. Perhaps the lack of strong leaders explains why there doesn't seem to be any evidence of warfare during this period.
Bronze Age
Bronze Age families built a circular dwelling with a central hearth. Ventilation was via the porch. Trade in metals led to the creation of individual wealth and the growth in status of tribal leaders. Warriors and warfare became a part of life.
Iron Age
On the apex of the roof of this early Iron Age dwelling, green turfs have been used to keep the thatch in place. The grass roots of the turf grow into the top of the thatch, holding it in place. The reed used in the thatch turns black as it weathers. The guide tells us that the blackening acts as a natural waterproofing.
Roman 
At the Hunting Lodge by the Lac du Heron there is a small exhibition of grave goods found locally in excavations of burials from the Gallo-Roman period. Here are bowls, firedogs and oil lamps but they're made on a miniature scale, for use in the after-life.
Richard Bell, |
Because standing stones are all we normally see of it, the distant past seems an exotic place, the people far removed from our day to day lives. So I'm struck by how homely the longhouse feels. Sparrows chatter in the eves, nettles grow in the disturbed ground alongside the wattle and daub walls. There's a familiar quality about the light and darkness inside and the hushed acoustic beneath the massive thatched roof.
This later Iron age house dates from the Gallo-Roman period. There was a large central hearth. A pair of terra cotta Firedogs were notched to take iron rods which supported the cooking pots.
Woollen thread can snap in a dry atmosphere so the shed built for weaving is partly sunk in the ground. Clay loom weights hold the warp threads.
Stilts and overhanging slices of log prevented rats reaching the food in the Storehouse. Gaps in the planks of the walls kept the stored food ventilated and cool. I remember seeing similar storehouses in northern Spain in the early 1970s. I think there might be one or two left in Normandy.