A very, very old ball of yarn is giving us new insights into what life was like more than 3,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.
The excavation of ruins in a small village located in what is now Cambridge, England has uncovered a number of artifacts from ancient fabrics to household goods and thatched roofs.
The village, now referred to as “Must Farm,” was originally built on stilts above a bog before a massive blaze destroyed the entire community. When the village collapsed, its remains sank into the mud 3,000 years ago. According to the Must Farm Facebook page, the most remarkable finding from the investigation is the yarn and thread, having survived thousands of years to become what is now known as the largest collection of Bronze Age fabrics ever discovered.
Researchers captioned a Facebook photo of a spindle of yarn, “Occasionally we find archeology that is hard to comprehend. When we first started finding such incredibly preserved textiles it was very difficult to believe it could really be 3,000 years old given how amazing its condition was.”
Although the pieces were damaged in the fire, the burial of the fabrics helped preserve their integrity along with more resilient materials like pottery, according to Science Magazine.
In addition to the fabric, a number of household items were recovered, including utensils and bowls with food remnants still intact.
While studying the fabrics, University of Glasgow Archeologist Susanna Harris determined the thread to be some of the best available in Europe 3,000 years ago, with thread counts up to 30 per centimeter. Although it is unclear what the now-extremely delicate thread may have been used for during the Bronze Age, further investigation may soon reveal a deeper understanding into daily life in this small English village.