On Friday 24th February, pupils in Year Three at Laxton Junior School visited Flag Fen Archaeology Park just outside Peterborough as part of their studies on ancient settlements. Flag Fen is an open air park that is regarded as one of the finest Bronze Age archaeological sites in Northern Europe.
Pupils had a wonderful experience learning about how and why settlers selected certain sites on which to build their settlements. Whilst at Flag Fen, pupils enjoyed a mixture of activities including listening to ancient stories around an open fire in a traditional roundhouse. A highlight of the day was seeing the eight 3,000 year old log boats that had been excavated at the site. Pupils learnt how the nature of the waterlogged fens also supported the preservation of an incredible wooden platform and posts that stretch for nearly a kilometre across the fen. These were built up between 1350 and 950BC and are of great national and international significance.
Teacher Mr Simon Marsden commented that ‘being able to visualize such a key part of history is of huge benefit to our pupils; it was a very successful day indeed.’