Director Christine Shaw
Prehistoric farms and settlements were usually enclosed by a simple ditch and bank surmounted by a wooden fence. The reason was most probably stock control rather than defence against attack. The shape of the enclosures varied widely, from round to rectangular. The octagonal shape of our enclosure is for research purposes. The enclosure is the settlement or farmstead itself, the human centre of operations. As in every farmstead throughout history, things are going on here all the time. Buildings are under construction and repair, storage places are full, in use or empty, stacks of material ready for use or set aside for some indeterminate date in the future. In the case of Butser, scientific research is the root cause of all these activities.
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Created 18 January 2002 - Updated 18 January 2002