会议名称：2023世界木材日研讨会暨第五届国际林联（IUFRO）林产品文化研究组讨论会
会议时间：2023年3月22日

报告嘉宾：Mark Griffiths 
嘉宾简介：英国的一位木工和独立研究员

摘要：
Our brief was a simple one, build a reproduction of a Neolithic roundhouse on a Natural England 
site, using timber and materials sourced in the landscape. Without historical evidence to draw on, no 
Prehistoric settlement has been discovered in this location, we approached the build as if our team of 
volunteers were Neolithic settlers constructing a dwelling here for the first time. The Roundhouse 
design was based on archaeological evidence from other sites in northern Europe. A cone of Silver 
Birch poles would be jointed to a 1.5-meter high circular wall. The 3-meter diameter wall was 
constructed using 15cm diameter Birch logs connected by Willow wattle panels. The walls were to 
be daubed in a mixture of clay, manure and straw; the roof would be thatched in reeds.
The beautiful moorland landscape seemed perfect at first sight with its abundance of Willow, Birch 
and a lake for clay and reed. Our unforeseen problems started with felling the quantities of timber 
required, mainly using flint axes, and transporting this back site. Then the clay we intended to use 
collected from the banks of the lake contained a multitude of small sharp stones that cut your hands 
as you worked it. Even if suitable the effort involved in moving large amounts of wet clay from 
lakeside to site was back braking. The reeds, which had at first seemed to grow in abundance, were 
brittle to the point of being unworkable. It also soon became clear that the quantity required for our 
roof would simply take too long to harvest.
In conclusion, the theory that communities in Pre-history would simply arrive in a location and 
construct settlements without detailed understanding of the available materials, surveying the 
suitably of each component was soon evidently a simplistic one, and underestimated their time 
learned knowledge.