, r'li t7 MY JOB

Peter J. Reysrolds Director of The Butser Ancient Farm Trust

'E he Butser Ancient Farm was establised near Petersfi eld in l97 2 as the only open agriculture and archaeology. The lron .1, air research laboratory devoted to prehistoric agriculture and archaeology in Age, the last of the major subdivisions of the world. Director, PETER REYNOLDS does not dress up in skins, or paint prehistory was chosen for the main his face blue. He.is not eccentric. Here is his very personal statement. research programme because for this time we have the most data available. It is important here to remember the When one is asked to write an article person. 'Caesar arrived with the sixth distinciion between history and entitled 'My Job' in a couple of thousand cohort in the nick of time', When faced prehistory. The {ormer is documented and 'racy well-chosen words', the initial with the task of recording what I do, my deals largely with perponaliiies, politics reaction is a stunned silence, Questing sympathies suddenly are realigned with and events; ihe latter depends almost thoughts Iike - 'who wants to know Caesar. The statement, Peter J, Reynolds eniirely upon the material evidence anyway?' and 'when did I lasi really think is the Director of the Butser Ancient Farm derived from excavations. In ef{ect the about "my job" as oppbsed to simply Trust is somehow more credible than I am archaeologist is faced with the debris. the dolng ii?'By this time it is too late. Silence the Direcior of . . rubbish of a society which has fortuitously has been taken for acquiescence. The The Butser Ancient Farm Researcl-r, survived the passage of time. The survivai copy dead-line has already been set. The Project is a unique research programme in process itself selects out only those ob)ects next iopic of conversation is broached. world archaeology in that jts purpose is to and features which are themseives lnevitably this is much more interesting construct and operate a farm dating to durable. Stone tools, fragments of pottery, since it involves positive thought leading about 300 B.C. In other words it,is a occasional bones, sometimes carbonised to subsequent action which will have a wholqscale simulation of a farm of the material like wood and seeds. metal resulting direct benefit to the Ancient mainstream o{ the Iron Age period. In objects although their survival is rare are Farm It is only some time later that the reality it is a huge open-air scientific the normal finds Features comprise post- desperate reality strikes. First time it research laboratory devoted to prehistoric holes, pits, gulleys. ditches and banks pocket occurs is during the listening to ihe Photogroph b9 Peter J Reynolds tape recorder play back of that day's transactions. Clearly it is a matter for the pending tray. A great friend o{ mine is a devoted believer in the pending tray. All awkward correspondence and difficult matters are carefully filed therein, The contents are reviewed monthly. Those noi further pursued within a period of three months are consigned to the waste-paper basket- I am assured that ninety per cent of all such maierial achieve the ultimate filing cabinet. Not only do I lack his courage and highly developed sense of procrastination. my creditors seem to be uniformly devoted to pursuit. The copy date has loomed and hovers perilously ciose. The manner of exposition of such an ariicle is not without difficulties- 'My Job' inevitably presupposes a superfluity of the pronolrn 'l'. At school such egotism was frowned upon and etiqueite required the use of the term 'one'. Indeed, one is reminded immediately of Caesar's inverted egotism when in his war diaries he always referred to himself in the third 18 When one considers the wealth of the Trust. Financial support for the asked 'what does it feei like to be an Iron material of everyday life, the vast Project came initially from the Ernest Age Farmer?' and'why don't you dress up proportion of which is made of Cook Foundation and at present from ihe in skins and paint yourself blue?' Putting degradable material, even with all the Leverhulme Trust. ln 1972 when it all aside personal irritations and explaining evidence without written or recorded started the enormity of the undertaking that in ihe Iron Age they tattooed material it would be surprisingly di{ficult was somewhat daunting. Like a themselves, I patiently explain that I don't to build an accurate picture of today's condemned man in the death cell, the really know how an Iron Age farmer felt ai society. Imagine how much more difficult mind was sharpened all. I belong to today and find the it is for the archaeologist to explain a Naturally there was opposition to the prospect of tomorrow exciting. We can prehistoric society In reality he has Project; questioning of its value and never know how people of the remote approximately 0.1% of the total evidence relevance. Not making a mistake in those past felt about anything unless H. G. Wells' and consequently a huge margin of error. early days was a matter of great concern. Time Machine becomes readily available Archaeological techniques have Today it still is but the scale of the In lieu of such a machine the celluloid steadily improved over the last thirty years undertaking has vasily increased Two industry persistently demonstrates the with more and more scientific processes major decisions had to be reached at the inadequacy of our understanding. The being employed to sift the evidence ever beginning, firstly an overall philosophy object o{ the Ancient Farm is to examine more minutely With the advent of these and second an analysis of prehistoric the basic material as scientifically as scientific processes and the inevitable agriculture. The latter was much easier in possible statistics a clearer understanding is being that agriculture prior to the chemical The early stage. the pioneerihg days of achieved of the minimal evidence revolution of the last thirty years can be the project was devoted to building the available. The normal procedure is defined simply as fields, fences and farm and exploring the processes that excavation, detailed analysis of the faeces. Settlement is a function of must have taken place to yield the physical remains, the floral and faunal agriculture rather than the reverse. The archaeological information recovered evidence followed by interpretation. This, first, the overall philosophy was more from excavations. Gradually the farm took however, is hardly su{ficient since there is difficult The evidence, the new data stems shape. Fields were made, fences erected, no sensible check on the interpretation directly from excavations. It is surprising crops planted and harvested, grain stored While the interpretation itself may be . how difficult it is to obtain the raw data in underground pits, houses, barns and inspired by the disciplined use of the rather than what the archaeologists think byres were built and rebuilt Hypothesis imagination, there is no reason why that it may mean. The next step was to reject testing is an absorbing fascination, At the interpretation should not be subjected to the word 'interpretation' since it argues an very beginning of the research empirical testing. element of certitude on the part of the programme I realised that for the results This last and necessary process is the interpreter and to adopt the term of the experiments to be any way valid not entire 'raison d'6tre' of the Ancient Farm hypothesis. Hypotheses are necessarily to only had the controls to be stringent but and, of course, my job. The basic be tested and this was to be my business. also the controls had to be exactly similar economy of the prehistoric period from In the world of science the proper way to to those used bg'the relevant scientific the Neolithic onwards has long been test an hypothesis is by direct experiment. discipline of the test. My task was not recognised to have been agriculture. It is, Tfre repeated testing of constants against principally to satisfy the archaeologists but therefore, supremely logical to construct variables always seeking to invalidate the to satisfy the agronomists, botanists, an outdoor laboratory where all the hypothesis Finally the comparison of the biologists, mycologists, engineers, aspects of prehistoric agriculture could be test results to the original data allows the zoologist and so on. In fact, provided the scientifically tested. To call it a farm hypothesis to validate or invalidate Of experiment was conducted correctly, the similarly explains the overall concept necessity all such testing is restricted to archaeologist was simply required to The challenge, however, of putting objects and processes and the results are provide the best possible prime data. The such a concept into three dimensional statements o{ probabili,tg. This is clearly a 'effect of experimentation has not only reaiity is not inconsiderable. I was initially fundamental advance over the served to underline the inadequacy of presented with a land area known as Little interpretation system. the prime data, but also focussed Butser comprising a spur jutting The above paragraph may seem to be attention upon the minutiae, the kind of northwards from Butser Hill in tedious and far too detailed for an article information that is present in the Hampshire,' The land is generously leased such as ihis but over the years it has archaeological record, the significance or to my Trustees by Hampshire County become increasingly important to stress even presence of which has not been Council who also make an annual grant to the working philosophy. I am regularly previously recognised. The feedback is considerable. Photograplt by Peter J Reynolds it was necessary for me to learn a whole range of new disciplines. The only way in which i could achieve this knowledge was to learn in depth the specific information pertaining to the experiment in hand Thus electron ic circuitry and the mycology of grain stored in sealed containers, thermodynamics and timber stress, thatching and rare arable weeds are weapons in the personal armoury Boredom never figures in the reckoning. Frustration on the other hand is a fellow traveller Today the project is internationally known. Not on)y is there the research site situated on Little Butser, a demonstration area has been built io show to the public the results of the research programme. Situated adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park Centre some twelve miles north of Portsmouth it is a 'living historical museum'. In reality it is an annexe to the research site and the exhibits ate themselves experiments repeating those on the research siie. The central element 19 o{ the demonstration area is a enormous. The natural result I suppose o{ the current state of research in this field, it reconstruction of a huge roundhouse best our national education system where also offers that information ior criticism described as a 'Celtic Manor House'. people are taught to ask questions and and comment Effectively it keeps me The project headquarters, a cottage seek after the truth Experiment has a alert It is so easy to pursue unreal tucked away in a sleepy hamlet in the special appeal, however, simply because it objectives when cocooned within the South Downs is fitted out with a general deals with the tangible, the real objects safety of academia Not that audiences are office. a small laboratory with the basic and the real processes There is a quite non-academic. On one occasion I was equipment of microscopes. balance, drying proper distrust of the generalisation, the rather surprised at the skilled in-depth oven, deep {reeze storage units, fiche broad sweep of comprehension, the tools questioning I received only to ciiscover readers etc. The garden contains a large so beloved by our professional subsequently that my questioners were greenhouse given over to the propagation communicators and politicians of respectively heads of university of rare plants integral to the research whatever subject or persuasion. departments and professors. My in-depth programmes. Still the basic siaff Experiment in archaeology has aiso answers were accepted! comprises ihree people, an assistant opened up for me an international My job is quite fascinating. Mondays director, my secretary and myself The audience. I have been invited to several don't really exist The passing of each County Council generously provides an countries both sides of the Atlantic to week is distinguished from any other by interpeter {or the demonstration area expound my theories and practices. I har,,e Sundays, the day when there is no post. During the past two years by virtue of the been awarded a medal by the College de To run an unique research project is a Manpower Services Commission I have France in Paris. infuriated translators in lare privilege, the opportunities it affords had a small staff to work in the field. Denmark and fascinated Americans in are exhilarating, the problems Each day provides a new challenge Canada. This last comment deserves challenging, surviva! perilous Any one The range of experimental work becomes some explanation. 1n Toronto I was day can encompass a vast range of increasingly great and more complex The invited to give a lecture at a conference subjects, activitjes, decisions, options The results inevitably achieve more validity as entitled 'The Celtic Consciousness', After thermo-dynamics of a prehistoric smelting iheir my people annual replication increases contribution several carrre up f urnace u-rith especial reference to the reliability My greatest single concern now to off er their congratulations including variables of heat properties of charcoal is publication While it would have been one lady of indeterminate age. Clearly she made from different woods give way to a irresponsible to rush into print ear'lier, now possessed as much youth as money could Soay ewe having lambing difficulties ln it is equalLy irresponsible not to publish buy, I was informed that she had loved turn the preparation of data cards for the results of the past seven years. listening to my lecture, indeed she wished microfiche records can be followed by Unfortunately there are too few hours in it had lasted much longer than the hour it mollifying an irate visitor who was any one duy, Indeed, although this had She further informed me that she convinced the BBC woad painted pressure exists it is still important that the hadn't understood a word of what I had survivors were to be on view at the project continues to be outwald looking, It said but she loved the sound of my voice, demonstration area The job is never dull is necessary to make every contribution the accent The day after I I believe its contribution to archaeology is possible to today's archaeology, to returned from Canada I lectured at a local considerable and that.the contribution will respond to all requests for advice and help W I. and was subjected to more searching inclease proportionally .. the longer the questions which the project can uniquely provide It concerning my work ihan in the farm continues Archaeology as a is my opinion that inirospection would whole' fortnight in Canada. It is most discipline wavers between the arts and the be the death knell The project and its unwise to underestimate the distaff sector sciences Gradually, inexorably it is being resources must be available to student of society, drawn towards the sciences as excavation and layman alike The lecture programme I undertal