'Britain's Pompeii' discovered by archaeologists in Bronze Age home

Archaeologists are set to step inside a Bronze Age home for the first time in an extraordinary dig that has been compared to Pompeii.

The researchers hope to reveal the secrets of the Bronze Age and discover how people lived thousands of years ago.

The dig site at the edge of a brick quarry near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, is drawing comparisons with Roman city Pompeii because it provides a time capsule into Bronze Age life.

Pompeii was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, whereas the dwellings discovered at Must Farm quarry, Whittlesey, in the East Anglian fens, were built on stilts on a river and destroyed in a fire 3,000 years ago.

The remains plunged into the water and silt, preserving them so well that archaeologists suggested it felt almost "rude" to excavate a home that seemed as if its owners were still nearby.

A £1.1 million project to excavate the site, funded by government heritage agency Historic England, and quarry-owners Forterra, has been launched.

Already the site has turned up jars with food still inside, wooden bowls, animal bones, textiles and glass beads that suggest people "at the top of their society".

Beginning in August with the removal of two metres of earth, the dig run by Cambridge University's Cambridge Archaeological Unit has also exposed a well-preserved palisade fence made of ash trees, wattle walls and the remains of the roof of one of the roundhouses destroyed in the fire that took place between 920BC and 800BC.

More finds are expected when the charred, collapsed roof beams are removed to expose the inside of the dwelling.

A human skull has also been found, but Mr Knight said further excavation was needed to discover if there were more remains and whether the person had died in the fire, or was the skull of an enemy or an ancestor being displayed - "Granny's head" hung up by the door.

With the help of a fire expert, the team hope to discover if the blaze was set deliberately at the end of the dwelling's life, was an accident or was done by hostile forces.

Mr Knight said the site was unprecedented in both the quantity and quality of the finds.

"Normally when you dig dry land sites, you're lucky if you find a few shards, here we're finding complete pots, often with the food inside them."

Experts had found a range of different sized pots, "like someone has gone to Habitat and bought the whole set," he said.