Butser Ancient Farm, near Petersfield in Hampshire, England, is a working replica of an Iron Age farmstead where long-term experiments in prehistoric and Roman agriculture, animal husbandry and manufacturing are held to test ideas posited by archaeologists. The period of interest is that from 400 BC to 400 AD.

Butser Ancient Farm was founded in 1972 by experimental archaeologist Peter J Reynolds (6 November 1939 - 26 September 2001), and named after its original site at Butser Hill, a few kilometres from Petersfield. In 1976 a second site was opened at Hillhampton Down about a kilometre away, and in 1989 the original site at Butser Hill was closed down. In 1991 the project moved to Bascomb Copse at Chalton , about 5 km from the original site.

Buildings at the farm include simulated pre-Roman roundhouses and a simulated Roman villa. The Pimperne House was the first full-sized roundhouse to be built at the site, and at the time the largest in western Europe.

The farm is open to the public.

External links

• Butser Ancient Farm

References

• Obituary of P J Reynolds by Mick Aston in The Guardian, 5 October 2001.