While perusing the archaeological news recently, I came across an article which was talking about five students in Estonia who decided that they were going to attempt to live like people did in the Iron Age for five days. While five days may not seem like a long time, when you think about what has to be given up, you might believe otherwise. No electricity, no flushing toilets, no laundry, no washing machines or microwaves and no comfy chairs. More importantly, however, is the fact that this experiment is a unique way to gain perspective on a time in history that is very different from our own.
The students built a wooden hut on the site of an old Iron Age settlement to live in. They dressed in wool and felt clothing, slept on a pile of hay, sheepskin and cloth, gathered their water from the melting snow and dealt with the horror that is fire-generated indoor heating without the benefit of a chimney. All this while in the middle of winter in a very cold place.
It is innovators like this that are going to benefit the world with their attempts to
understand the past. They were willing to put themselves into the middle of things to get a real taste of what it might have been like to exist in the Iron Age. It is hard to determine the complete truth of a matter without actually experiencing it. All the study in the world won’t reveal the true discomfort that comes along with living without the luxuries of the modern world.
So what were the students’ conclusions from this experiment? That the Iron Age was a cold, dark and smoky place.
Kudos to these young seekers of truth in their quest to enlighten themselves and the world a bit more to the realities of a distant past.