A major report on the remains of a stilt village that was engulfed in flames almost 3,000 years ago reveals in unprecedented detail the daily lives of England’s prehistoric fenlanders.

Must Farm, a late Bronze Age settlement, dates to around 850BC, with University of Cambridge archaeologists unearthing four large wooden roundhouses and a square entranceway structure—all of which had been constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river.

The entire hamlet stood approximately two meters above the riverbed, with walkways bridging some of the main houses, and was surrounded by a two-meter-high fence of sharpened posts.