![]() The Coppergate dig in York provides a key example of just how well wooden buildings can preserve. Dendrochronology is a key method employed by archaeologists to date Viking Age settlements that analyses the age of wood used in buildings to date settlements of the period. It is a common misconception that this habit of building in wood coined the term 'Dark Ages' due to the lack of archaeological evidence left from the period. This is seen by the fact that most Saxons in London chose to build their wooden dwellings outside the Roman city's wall in the area that is now Westminster rather than occupy the stone buildings within the 'old' city. ![]() There were Roman buildings surviving in Britain during the Saxon period but ordinary Saxons avoided them as they believed them haunted. Saxons built only in wood and thatch or wattle and daub 'mud huts' except for churches and some palaces - Alfred's palace is reputed to have been of stone with glazed windows as shown. ![]() Many of the small buildings shown in the series are built of thatch and stone. ![]()
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