Must Farm

Project summary

The Must Farm project is analysing glass finds from Must Farm, a Late Bronze Age archaeological site near Peterborough.

Professor Julian Henderson, of the University of Nottingham, is collaborating with Dr Mark Knight (Cambridge Archaeology Unit, University of Cambridge), as well as Dr Simon Chenery and Professor Jane Evans (both from British Geological Survey) on this research.

Image of three old beads (two brown and one blue) with a size guide underneath showing that they range between 1-2cm in diameter

Three of the glass beads found at Must Farm

Project details

One of the few highly coloured materials that has been found at the Late Bronze Age (9th-8th century BCE) waterlogged site of Must Farm near Peterborough, is glass. The largest number of Late Bronze Age glass beads from any site in England has been found at the site. They are mainly green and their preservation is variable.

This cross-disciplinary collaborative project aims to define the technology used to make this very important collection of glass beads and to provide a provenance for the glass.

The project team use major, minor and trace element analysis (electron probe microanalysis and laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). They also use neodymium and strontium isotope analysis using thermal ion mass spectrometry.

The electron microprobe is located in the Nanoscale and microscale research centre on the University of Nottingham's University Park campus. The LAICP-MS and TIMS are located at the nearby British Geological centre.

Project outcomes

The unpublished results show:

That the glasses have an exotic origin and
That the technologies reflect the technological transition that was occurring at the time - a change from a plant ash flux to a mineral (natron) flux.

Publication of the results is in preparation. They will appear in The Must Farm Pile Dwelling Settlement, volume 2, specialist contributions, to be published by McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge.

The project team consider that the results are so exciting that they will open a new chapter in the development of ancient western glass technologies.