Festival of Archaeology at Butser Ancient Farm

25th to 29th July 2022 10am to 4pm

Normal admission prices

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We’re celebrating our big 5-0 and kicking off the summer holidays with the Festival of Archaeology, held each year by the Council for British Archaeology to inspire young and old about the wonderful world of archaeology.  

There will be a range of ancient skills and archaeological activities to try out as you get a taste of experimental archaeology and all the wonderful things that go on here at Butser Ancient Farm. 

Here’s a selection of what we have planned for each day! (activities may be subject to change)

• Monday

  • Try your hand at Pottery

  • Have a go at Cordage - making string from natural materials

  • Meet volunteers from the Museum of the Iron Age at Andover with real and replica artefacts from Danebury Iron Age Hillfort.

  • Watch as we turn rock into metal!

  • at 12pm join a talk from our experimental archaeologist to find out what Experimental Archaeology is all about!

• Tuesday

  • Help us make a Mesolithic shelter from scratch!

  • Try your hand at Pottery

  • Have a go at Cordage - making string from natural materials

  • Watch as we turn rock into metal!

  • Watch glass bead making demonstrations

  • Watch Blacksmithing in action.

  • See demonstrations on a Roman pottery wheel

  • Watch charcoal making demonstrations

  • at 12pm join a talk from our experimental archaeologist to find out what Experimental Archaeology is all about!

• Wednesday

  • The big stone moving experiment! See our attempts to move a 3 1/2 ton standing stone as we erect a monolith to celebrate our 50th anniversary! We estimate to start the experiment at 2pm. Please note this will be being filmed.

  • Try your hand at Pottery

  • Have a go at Cordage - making string from natural materials

  • Watch as we turn rock into metal! (am only)

• Thursday

  • Try your hand at Pottery

  • Have a go at Cordage - making string from natural materials

  • Watch as we turn rock into metal!

  • We’ll be working on our Iron Age Roundhouse construction - based on a house from Danebury Hillfort.

  • Watch glass bead making in action

  • at 12pm join a talk from our experimental archaeologist to find out what Experimental Archaeology is all about!

• Friday

  • Try your hand at Pottery

  • Have a go at Cordage - making string from natural materials

  • Watch as we turn rock into metal!

  • We’ll be working on our Iron Age Roundhouse construction - based on a house from Danebury Hillfort.

  • at 12pm join a talk from our experimental archaeologist to find out what Experimental Archaeology is all about!

  • Come and listen to ancient stories in the roundhouse written specially for our 50th anniversary (afternoon only)