Last week we were joined by a lovely group of staff and students from University College London Institute of Archaeology for their inaugural ‘Primtech’ experimental archaeology course, now located at Butser Ancient Farm.

Months in the planning the students got the chance to experience a wonderful variety of practical workshops from metallurgy, flint-knapping, cheese making, pottery, woodwork, painting, bread making and more!

It was wonderful to have the 100 staff and students here at Butser and added a wonderful added dimension to the site. They camped in one of our paddocks and enjoyed the site after hours with stargazing and stories around our Roundhouse fires.

The ‘Primary Technologies’ course has been run every year by the UCL Institute of Archaeology since 1982. It introduces first year undergraduate students, at the very beginning of their time at University, to the basic elements of technology, essential crafts and skills. These include making stone tools, extracting copper from ore, making and firing clay pots, processing crops to make bread, and learning about constructing ancient buildings. As well as these core skills the students learn how important experiments are in understanding the past, how to build useful experimental approaches to archaeology and how to use the results to interpret data in more nuanced and sophisticated ways. We’re delighted it has now relocated to Butser and look forward to many exciting years of collaboration ahead!