In 2016 the first experimental structure at the Masamuda Archaeological Educational Centre (EXARC Member) in Vlaardingen near Rotterdam was built, a collaboration between Leiden University and Masamuda (see video). It was based on a house plan from the Late Neolithic Vlaardingen culture. Since then local volunteers have carried out different activities around this structure and Leiden students and staff did scientific experiments on the terrain. 

Now it is time to turn the page and move forward: the house has to be put to life!

A new project, funded by the Dutch National Science Foundation (https://www.nwo.nl/projecten/aib19020), is going to do just that. By means of experiments and detailed material analysis we, a team of scientists, commercial archaeologists and craftspeople, will explore daily life of the people who inhabited the Rhine/Meuse delta around 3400-2500 BC. We will do so together with the Masamuda volunteers and, through EXARC, will communicate our results and ideas to visitors of archaeological open air centers and museums across the world. Our website is being constructed at this very moment so check us out in a few weeks on http://www.puttinglife.com

Before starting this exciting project we wanted the house to be in pucker shape. The winter storms had battered the western façade so we added fresh layers of reeds to the outside of the wall and plastered the inside for extra insulation. We also repaired the holes in the roof by adding bundles of reeds and putting fresh loam on the roof ridge.

The house is now ready for ACTION!!