Archaeologists Uncover Britains Oldest House

Archaeologists say they have discovered Britain's oldest house at a Stone Age site in northern England. Researchers say the house dates back 10,500 years.

Archaeologists in Britain have discovered a three-and-a-half meter wide circular structure at Star Carr, near Scarborough.

Researchers from Manchester and York universities say these ancient cultural remains date back 10,500 years to when Britain was still linked to continental Europe.

Near the structure—thought to be a house—archaeologists uncovered a large wooden platform made of split and hewn timbers, extending into an ancient lake.

Researchers say this is the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe.

The team also found pieces of flint and antlers thought to have been used for arrows and spearheads.

The archaeologists say the site was inhabited by hunter gatherers from a time just after the last ice age, for a period of between 200 and 500 years.




[Nicky Milner, York University]:
"We have actually got this amazing barb point. It would have been a lot longer than this, this is a fragment used for hunting wild beasts like wild cows, red deer, wild boars, elk, really enormous animals, and we have evidence of bones from the sites show that they were eating these animals."




The house, first excavated by the team two years ago, have post holes around a central hollow, which could have been filled with organic matter such as reeds, and possibly a fireplace.

It predates by 500 years, a dwelling at Howick in Northumberland, northern England, previously thought to have been Britain's oldest.