Volunteers thrive in test of iron-age living

Press, 16 February 1978, Page 9

Volunteers thrive in test of iron-age living

NZPA-Reuter London Ten volunteers who have lived the lives of iron-age Britons for almost a year will soon be returning to the comforts of modern civilisation but probably hankering for a return to the ancient life. . “I think that, over-all, thet have greatly enjoyed! the experiment and learnt so much from it that most of them want to do something! similar when they leave,” a; spokesman for the project; said this week. Last April, 15 people, in-j eluding three children, cut; themselves off from the; twentieth century to seel whether it was still possible | to live as their ancestors; had some 3000 years ago. ,

The children and their parents had to leave after nine months when the five-year-old boy became ill, but the others braved one of Britain’s harshest winters for years in a communal mud-and-thatch round house they built. Their experiences have been filmed for a series of British Broadcasting Corpor- ’ ation television programmes Ito be shown later this I month. During the year, at a se;cret site in south-west Eng- ; land, the group has learnt to • be almost completely selfI sufficient, producing their ;own food and practising the ! ancient skills of pottery, (weaving, and metalwork. Each couple in turn looks 'after the meals, which might

be garlic flavoured nettle soup followed by wholemeal bread and goats’ cheese, or venison stew with junket for desert. Most of the cooking is done over a primitive wood fire and the usual drink is a kind of iron-age coffee made from roasted wheat grains. The volunteers admit they spend most the time dirty and muddy. Hair washing is done by rubbing clay into the scalp and then rinsing it off. One complaint from the women is that the clay may absorb the grease, but it doesn’t really “clean the hair. The only concessions to the twentieth century they have been allowed were a few schoolbooks for the children, four visits from a local doctor, and modern contraceptives.