Popular Peterborough 'Britain's Pompeii' display extends run

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The free exhibition of 3,000-year-old artefacts has attracted the museum’s biggest visitor numbers for eight years

Martin Rowe/Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery Close up views of two Bronze Age pinch pots displayed in an exhibition case against an orange background at Peterborough Museum — The free exhibition of 3,000-year-old artefacts has attracted the museum’s biggest visitor numbers for eight years

The display tells the story of how rapidly a fire took hold of the settlement, which archaeologists said was less than a year old

Martin Rowe/Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery A woman in a dark top, skirt and tights, looking at the contents of an exhibition case, in front of a large display showing an artist's impression of a Bronze Age settlement going up in flames, with two men and two women looking at other displays at Peterborough Museum — The display tells the story of how rapidly a fire took hold of the settlement, which archaeologists said was less than a year old

The exhibition, which gives a remarkable insight into the way people lived in the Bronze Age, has attracted the museum’s highest visitor numbers for eight years.

The artefacts were unearthed at a Bronze Age settlement of wooden roundhouses built over a river channel at Must Farm at Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire.

Domestic items were deposited into the river silt after the settlement caught fire, where they remained until they were excavated eight years ago.

Fleeing villagers left behind the largest collection of Bronze Age artefacts ever discovered in the UK, including 200 wooden objects, more than 150 fibre and textile items, 128 pottery vessels and about 90 pieces of metalwork.

The excavation’s discoveries are of national importance, yet its finds are staying local, about eight miles (12km) from where they were found.

Those fleeing the fire left behind artefacts including striking glass beads in blue, green and turquoise

Martin Rowe/Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery View of Bronze Age beads on display, including blue/green glass beads, a faience bead and a photograph of a replica of a necklace at Peterborough Museum — Those fleeing the fire left behind artefacts including striking glass beads in blue, green and turquoise

Exhibits include Bronze Age pottery fragments painstakingly recreated to reveal cooking ware and fine cups and bowls and a pot with a preserved, freshly cooked meal inside.

Tony Callandine, Historic England’s east regional director, said the organisation was delighted it could support an extended run of the exhibition.

“Seeing objects that were used for cooking and everyday home life so long ago stirs the imagination and brings communities from the past closer to us today,” he said.