This composite photograph is of the interior of 'House 2', at the Peat Moors Visitors Centre, Nr. Glastonbury, Somerset.
Click on objects in the photograph to find out more about them, or scroll through the information below.

Fire		The fire is the heart of the house. The fire is almost always in the middle of the building. It is used to heat the entire house (central heating) -joke! The fire is also the stove, and is used as a source of heat to do all the cooking. You do not need a large fire to do either job, and learning to manage the fire economicaly is a skill in its own right. The fire is maintained 24 hrs a day, and to be caught withoyt a fire would have been a social disgrace
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Baskets		Basket work has been found in excavations dating back to the Neolithic Period. Most baskets are made from willow, as it is very flexible when green. It can be woven into intricate shapes, both round and square. Once the basket has dried and seasoned, it is very tough and light. The light weight is important if you are carrying large amounts, as you do not want the basket to be heavier than the contents!
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Bed		The presence of a bed in the reconstruction is based on internal post holes in the archaeology, and comments about beds in some of the Celtic tales. The base is an oak frame, with a sleeping surface of woven hazel. This gives a certain amount of spring to the bed. A mattress of hay or feathers is put onto the bed, and then covered with animal skins, such as sheep or bear. In this example there are also rolled sheepskin pillows, and woolen blankets to ensure complete comfort. See internal layout of a house in 'Building of a Round House'
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Cauldron		One of the most important items in the house is the cauldron. This one is suspended over the fire using a tripod and adjustable chain. I you were well off, the cauldron would have been made of iron, otherwise a bronze one would have to do. There is an example of a hugh silver cauldron, but it may have just been ceremonial, as it is not strong enough to have held the weight of the food. It was important to have always had food cooked and available, as hospitality required you to feed any guests on their arrival. This cannot be done if you roast your meat, as it may not be cooked! there are many stories about magical cauldrons that could not be emptied. Some cauldrons held the greatest secret of all, dead warriors were placed in the pot to be brought back to life to fight another day!
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Wall Decoration		The wall decoration is based on a number of finds of preserved daub showing paint or lime wash still intact. The entire wall is first given a coating of lime wash, using brushes made of animal bristle. The pattern on this wall is based on the decoration of a pot found in the local excavations. The roundel is on the base of the pot, and the band runs around the outside middle of the pot.  The colours of the paint in the decoration are:- Red (iron oxide from the local ore) Black (charcoal from the bottom of the fire) For more house decoration see Interior VR
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Herbs		The interior of a round house is an exellent place for the drying and preservation of a variety of food. Shown here are herbs hung up to dry. They are used in food flavouring and medicines. In the roof of the house, up in the smoke, meat and fish can be hung to preserve and gain flavour.
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Drinking Horn		The horns from cattle are taken of the skull after the animal has been killed. The horns are then cleaned and polished and used as drinking vessels. The quantity that a horn can hold ranges from half a litre - up to two and a half litres. Some horns were decorated with metal mountings, and the finest were often buried with their owners.
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Weaving Loom		The full title of this machine is an 'Upright, Warp weighted Loom' The warp is the set of threads that run down the length of the cloth, and the weft is the thread that is woven across the warp. The loom shown here is not the best example but demonstrates the principle. At the bottom of the warp there are a number of clay weights. These are to keep tension on the warp. The bar at the top and bottom of the loom are part of the loom frame. The bar in the centre is a 'heddle' bar, and holds a number of looped threads that are the heddles. These are looped around alternate warp threads, and when the heddle bar is pulled forward it seperates the warp threads to create an opening called a 'shed'. The weft thread is wound on a shuttle which is passed through the shed to create the cloth. The heddle bar is dropped back against the loom frame and that opens the second shed as the warp threads swap places. Some of the looms must have been quite large as a cloak requires many square metres of cloth. See 'Celtic Clothing' See "Spinning' in the AtoZ See 'Loom Weight' in Artifacts
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Pots		Clay pots were use in large quantities, and in many shapes and sizes. They survive well in the archaeology under all conditions so they can be a reliable way of dating sites. The earliest pottery that is recognised in Britain, dates to the neolithic period. Pots were used for food storage, water storage, cooking in, and holding the cremated remains in some burials. See 'Pottery' in Artifacts.
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Quern		Grind Stones or 'Querns' have been in use since the Neolithic period, and possibly earlier. The proccess of grinding food, and in particular grain, was a leap forward in nutrition. The diet became better and that in turn led to a healthier population. Shown here is a 'Saddle Quern'. It is used by holding the smaller stone in your hand and rubbing and crushing the food placed on the larger stone. See 'Grinding' in the AtoZ
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Skins		There is indirect evidence of floor coverings in round houses. In excavations there are many finds embeded in the floor. If the floor had been bare, these items would have been spotted and picked up. However, if the floor is covered in skins, rushes or hay, they would have dissapeared from site and lost. On the floor of this house, the skins are sheep, cow and deer.
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Stool		Because of the almost unique collection of artifacts found in the waterlogged sites in somerset, there is good evidence for furniture in the iron Age. The stool shown here has wooden legs and a leather top. Other finds indicate items like wooden chests and tables. See 'Wood' in the Artifacts
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Wall		A strange thing to draw attention to, the wall. Construction of this house is the traditional 'Wattle and Daub' method. There are wooden poles driven into the ground, thin lengths of coppiced wood are woven into the poles. Then daub, a mixture of clay,soil,straw and animal droppings, is spread onto the wood to weatherproof the house.
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Cups & Bowls		Although pottery survives well, wood does not. But in the Glastonbury excavations many itens of wood have been found. Amongst them there are wooden bowls and cups that have been turned on a pole lathe. Other domestic items include wooden spoons, ladles, buckets and tubs. See 'Wood' in Artifacts See 'Pole Lathe' in the AtoZ