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= Avalon Archaeology Park = The Avalon Archaeology Park is an open air museum housing reconstructions of various buildings from different periods. It forms part of the Avalon Marshes Centre at Shapwick Road, Westhay, Glastonbury, BA6 9TT. The Park contains reconstruction of a Saxon longhall, the dining room of a Roman villa and a waterline replica of a Viking trading boat. An Iron Age roundhouse is to be added in 2022. The site is due to open to the public in summer 2022 at a date yet to be announced.

History of the site
Earlier reconstructions of three Iron Age roundhouses were made on the site between 1992 and 2009, when it was called the Peat Moors Centre, operated by Somerset County Council.

The Avalon Archaeology Park has been developed by the South West Heritage Trust, who own and manage it. It began as a small part of the Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership Project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Avalon Marshes Partnership group of organisations. A group of volunteers were formed in 2015 as part of that project who were trained in various traditional building techniques. Since then they have been working one day a week on the reconstruction project (with a prolonged break during the covod epidemic) building, decorating and furnishing the structures. A blog with images and more detialed information can be seen via the link in the external links section below

The components of the site
The site consists of a Saxon longhall, the dining room of a Roman villa, a waterline replica of a Viking trading boat and the Bulleid and Gray excavation hut. An Iron Age roundhouse is to be added in 2022.

The Saxon longhall
This is a recreation of a nobleman's longhall based on the late 9th century AD longhall from the royal Saxon site of Cheddar.

The Roman dining room
This is a recreation of a typical dinging room or triclinium, based on evidence from villas exacavated in Somerset.It has fresco decoration and a mosaic floor is being made. It is heated by an underfloor hypocaust system.

The Viking trading boat
The Walrus is a full size waterline replica of a Viking trading ship from Denmark (Skuldelev 3). It was built of oak by a specialist team of Viking boat builders from Roskilde in Denmark. Originally displayed in the National Maritime museum in Falmouth. It is now beached beside the Saxon longhall for the purposes of peaceful trade.

The Bulleid and Gray excavation hut
This is the site hut used by Arthur Bulleid and Harold St George Gray when they were excavating the Iron Age Meare Lake Villages between 1909 and 1956. It was used again in the early 1980’s when the Somerset Levels Project was excavating there. It is thought to be the oldest surviving archaeological excavation hut in the world. It has been restored by the South West Heritage Trust and is part of the collection of the Museum of Somerset. One room of it has now been adapted to show films on the local heritage, forming Britain’s smallest cinema.

The Iron Age roundhouse
It is hoped to build the reconstruction of a house based on ones from the late Iron Age Glastonbury Lake Village site, using the new information based on the recent excavations. It is only since the recent excavations that we have realised how slender the wall posts were and how short lived the structures were. The new reconstruction therefore offers the opportunity to build the first ever accurate reconstruction of a lake village dwelling.

External links section
https://avalon-archaeology.com/

https://avalon-archaeology.com/avalon-archaeology-park/