An Excavation in Wales Paints a Picture of Home Life 3,500 Years Ago

Researchers are excavating the remains of a Bronze Age roundhouse hiding beneath a field in Cardiff, Wales. A series of digs has allowed the team—which includes both trained professionals and local volunteers—to touch the very floor the house’s residents walked on 3,500 years ago.

Located in the city’s Trelai Park, the historic site was first identified during a land survey in 2022. Soon after, the Caerau and Ely Rediscovering Heritage Project (CAER), a group that promotes community involvement in archaeological research, began an excavation in collaboration with Cardiff University and local schools.

Experts initially hoped the roundhouse would shed new light on everyday life in the region between the late Iron Age and early Roman era, according to a 2023 statement from Cardiff University. However, they soon discovered the structure was much older than they thought, thanks to a shattered clay pot unearthed in the park. The artifact dated to around 1500 B.C.E.—placing the site in the Bronze Age.

As such, the home is thought to be “the earliest house discovered in Cardiff,” as Oliver Davis, a Cardiff University archaeologist and co-director of CAER, said in the statement.

Subsequent excavations have revealed many clues about the lives of the roundhouse’s Bronze Age residents, as the Guardian’s Steven Morris reports. Archaeologists have learned that two roundhouses were built at the site, one after the other. Just last month, they unearthed a clay furnace—only the second of its kind discovered in the United Kingdom—which a Bronze Age metalworker may have used to forge weapons, jewelry and tools.

Thousands of years ago, the roundhouse’s residents would have kept a hearth blazing in the middle of their abode: “It would have been dark and smoky,” Davis tells the Guardian. “We’ve found a lot of pottery there, so we know that’s where they’re cooking, preparing and probably eating food.”

Researchers are particularly excited about the dwellings’ floors, which have survived in excellent condition because the field has never been plowed.

“It is the actual surface that people trod on in the Bronze Age,” Davis adds. “That is incredibly rare.”

Other discoveries include “a number of flints,” suggesting that tools were made there, and “evidence of cereals being prepared,” per the Guardian. The team is also planning to extract a pot that may have functioned as an urn, perhaps containing the ashes of a blacksmith who used the furnace.

“We’re beginning to get glimpses of how Bronze Age people lived,” Davis tells BBC Newsround.

The field has also revealed artifacts from the early 20th century, when the site was used as a race course, and World War II, when it hosted training sessions for the home guard, as Sky News’ Tomos Evans reports.

The excavation presents an opportunity for local residents to interact directly with Wales’ history. Children from local schools frequently tour the site, while retirees and other interested amateurs can even volunteer to participate in the digs.

“It’s the community involvement that makes me get up in the morning,” says Davis to Sky News. “It’s seeing people come and just the joy on their faces of being involved in something. An archaeological dig creates a community.”

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.