Enjoyed that. In the Philippines, I learned that with dirt floors over time, you can make them as hard and as shiny as concrete floors. They used coconuts tied to their feet to polish the floors after being swept and yes, even mopped. I thought they were concrete until the owner of the house explained how it was done. I would live in one of those if I had the chance to.
You can speed up the process by mixing the right soil combo and spreading and polishing it like concrete in the very beginning. I'll bet the Filipinos did that as well. It can be done in a week or so.
Some what dark factoid. American midwest they would slaughter a cattle inside a house. The blood would mix with the dirt to quickly create a hard surface, like rough concrete. The one I saw lasted ten years, heavily cracked, but had the advantage that it was something that could be done quickly and used parts of the animal readily available and less needed.
@@thomphan9518 that would make sense, dried blood is quite hard and shiny...ehrm....you work with what you have, i guess. anything that has protein in it works? Like, milk?
@@hetedeleambacht6608 I learned it from a living history place out in NM, US. Really hope I never have to test it myself. The stench must have been terrible. Never thought about the chemistry behind it, but I guess this does make sense. Would take a lot of milk
What an absolute treat it would be to sit around a fire with a glass of mead listening to the history of these beautifully built structures, really immersing yourself in what it was like to live there thousands of years ago.
Interesting. I spent 3 years of my early teens in a 50' round house. I have no idea how old it was when we moved in but I've just checked on Google maps, it's still standing 44 years later.
Butser is awesome, I once did a week long experimental archaeology course there. Spent a whole week making a a small copper axehead, after that I had a whole new appreciation for how hard life used to be, especially tool making. Everyone there was very friendly and super knowledgeable, great video thanks again!
Yes! I've asked for round houses for so long and now you deliver!! Thank you! I'm building my own stone roundhouse here in America in Texas. A 24 foot diameter.
An awesome video Mike, really liked it. It so interesting to go back in the history and see how people from the past manage to build those fantastic houses with very limited tools but with a huge knowledge.
I was at butser last weekend. I genuinely felt so at peace. Barely touched my phone or anything. Was there for a good half a day and was so happy to just...be
Hi Mike. This video brought back memories from when I visited Buster Ancient Farm during a school trip. I remember my class all sat on those seats around the fire, listening to the history of the building. I was fascinated about the history, but also I remember my eyes stinging from the fire smoke! Even at that young age (i think about 10 years old) I was in love with the simplicity and ingenuity of it all! Thanks for sharing!
*I REALLY WANT TO LIVE IN A ROUND HOUSE* if I ever get over my long covid I might buy a bit of woodland and build one, Woodland is cheap here in Bulgaria... I've lived in a log cabin off-grid and a yacht off-grid - so maybe a round house is next...
That sheepskin was worn the other way around. Because the fur keeps you warm and the tanned side was the outside. So also the side that the rain did not stay on. I myself lived for more than 20 months on an Iron Age village in the Netherlands.
for anyone interested in old style houses look up the Grand Designs site and one of their very early houses is one made using old technologies. It was built by a coppicer/woodsman in a woodland in the Sth of England and had to be made of materials that would eventually disappear back into the earth. It shows how they made all the frames and built it up, a later one shows the additions made when he married and had kids. Well worth watching if old methods of building are of interest.
It is asserted that "iron was more durable than bronze" - I dispute this. Steel is certainly more durable than bronze, but wrought iron is generally not as hard as bronze and bronze has the added advantage of not rusting! I believe there were a number of factors that lead to the widespread use of iron, mainly availability of iron ore making iron cheaper!
Also when defending their round houses they developed a kick still in use today, known as the "roundhouse kick." :) Prior to the roundhouse kick there were only oblong kicks and debris kicks.
Given that it's always the doorways that go first, because you're poking a hole in your structure, it strikes me as a good idea to drive your main roof timbers all the way to the ground either side of the door - in this way you will support the door structure, as it has load-bearing timbers either side that go all the way up to the ridge beam.
I wish there would have been more information on HOW they built these round houses. -Did they put the bottom of the house directly on the dirt, or did they put it on stones (flat slabs) so the plastered bottom was off of the dirt? --Did they put the house facing south or west? -It seemed more logical to only put the plaster on the outside of the woven walls so that moisture could escape from the wood. Or at least wait for some time to make sure the wood was dry before putting plaster on the inside walls. -How do you know that the plastered walls had that large of a gap between the top of the wall and the roof? Can't the wind blow in and cause problems with lifting up the roof? -I live in Michigan in the USA, where we have strong winds and tornadoes, so wind is a real concern here. This is why I ask about the gap. This video is very interesting, but it seems that there is still a LOT to learn how the Iron Age people actually built these round houses.
We sometimes hang our smoked hams for three years before we cut them. And that's just in a paper bag hung in the shed after we're done smoking them. No doubt in my mind that if you kept insects and rodents away you could keep food for years in that kind of smoke filled dry environment.
In a couple weekends time, I'll be doing a reenactment event at Butser ancient farm. Saxons Vs Vikings. Would be awesome to see you there if you can make it?
Always figured an Iron age roundhouse that big would be divided something like the stone wheel houses in Scottish Islands, chambers around a hearth area
Hy. I really enjoy your content also i like the new kinda historical videos. But i really miss camping videos. So when will a new camping or bushcrafting video will come out?
they were never up top the hill.. it was opposite side of the a3 from the QE park visitor center in the sheltered end of the gully... an its a crying shame they did away with the neolithic man displays in the center from late 70s mid 80s
TA not that I don’t like all of your videos but I’ve looked at the view count on you different videos since you’ve posted the first bushcraft shelter video a few weeks ago and I’ve noticed that those videos get over 100k views but these always get under 100k. I think if you’d like to grow your RU-vid channel I’d keep working on that and post your progress, I sure know that I would watch it.
I understand some dimensions and materials can be confirmed by archaeology but am concerned by improvements to the 'based-on' construction. The modifications don't appear to be the result of new research, simply a reaction to getting it wrong in the first place. This moves the original concept away from iron-age reality and into up-market theme park?
WTF IS THIS. MY ANCESTORS WETE NOT LIVING IN MUDHUTS. WE HAF BR9NZE BRO WHJCH HELP US TRADR WITH ANCIENT EGYPT. YOU SAY CHIEFDOM BYT IT SVYIALLY MEANS KING SO STOP MAKING US SEEM TRIVAL