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Mindless vandals have smashed priceless archaeological finds unearthed from a 3`000-year-old bronze age building in Peterborough. Archaeologist Dr Francis Pryor said vandals smashed their way into the office of the Flag Fen site and destroyed pottery and animal bones found recently. Now he is desperate to stop further destruction at the site, which has become of increasing international importance. It is the second time vandals have smashed their way into the site office in five months. Dr Pryor said: "We keep very little of importance on the site because of acts of violence like this." "They smashed pottery and animal bone finds which are irreplaceable and have taken us weeks to uncover and identify. They provided extremely valuable information about the site and now we have lost that." Very few of the finds are kept on site, most are stored at the City Museum, Peterborough, but a handful are kept to show visitors to the site. The attack at the site has set back the work of archaeologists by months. The wooden building at Flag Fen is the best example of its bid ever found in Northern Europe and is believed to be part of a complete bronze age village. Dr Pryor said: "The vandals smashed their way into the three huts we have on the site. They took a few clothes and our first aid kit but mostly destroyed whatever they could get their hands on. "I think the only way we are going to keep out these vandals is to fence off the site and have guard dogs on patrol but this needs money and we already operate on a shoestring. |
