Iron Age Turf Roof

Updating an ancient tradition icelandic turf architecture has its roots in building techniques dating back to the iron age indeed the romans used turf bricks to build fortresses and defensive.

Iron age turf roof. The iron age in britain started around 800bc and finished in 43ad when the bronze age began. In order to protect themselves and their livestock from the harsh climate the settlers constructed shelters using the trees to provide a framework and covering the frame with turf. The discovery of ways to heat and forge iron kicked off the iron age roughly 1 300 b c. And 600 b c depending on the region and followed the stone age and bronze age.

The house re construction was about 30 years old so the deterioration of the turf occurred more quickly than anticipated. These could be made of timber or stone with a roof covering of thatch or turf depending upon locally available building materials. The old turf roof and walls were being stripped off layer by layer using knives left a very messy and muddy job. At the time the metal was seen as more precious than gold and wrought iron which would be.

Like many icelandic villages houses here are roofed with turf a practice that developed in northern europe as early as the iron age. These ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m. Chris and shona scatchard from caithness have spent the last few years experimenting with building roundhouses inspired by iron age examples using the materials available locally. Roundhouses were the standard form of housing built in britain from the bronze age throughout the iron age and in some areas well into the sub roman period.

The people built walls made of either stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle and daub panels and topped with a conical thatched roof. Container gardens on roofs where plants are maintained in pots are not generally considered to be true green roofs although. Chris has kindly put together this inspiring piece about his experiences. As a result all of the turf was scheduled to be replaced during 2002 2003.

The standard iron age building was the roundhouse. There have been many attempts to reconstruct iron age roundhouses by archaeology groups and other enthusiasts but.