Living in the Past was a 1978 BBC fly on the wall documentary programme. It followed a group of fifteen volunteers, six couples and three children, recreating a British Iron Age settlement, where they sustained themselves for a year, equipped only with the tools, crops and livestock that would have been available at that time.
The series is considered a precursor to modern reality television.
Broadcast history
Living in the Past consisted of twelve episodes (two 50 minute episodes and ten of 30 minute episodes), airing from 23 February to 11 May 1978. The series was re-aired in 1981 in edited form, being reduced to 8 programmes of 30 minutes each. In addition, three 20-minute programmes were made from film that was not used in the main series. These were broadcast by the BBC in February and March 1979 as part of a series entitled "Out of the Past". Follow up programmes were broadcast 20 years and 30 years after the project, featuring some of the participants.
Events during series
Settlement
The series began with the group building its Iron Age settlement with a hybrid of modern work tools and ancient tools, giving them time to adjust and get their bearings for living in an ancient time. The settlement they built was based on a nearby archaeological site dated to around the same time in the Iron Age. The living accommodation for the whole group was a substantial thatched roundhouse 48 ft (14.6 metres) in diameter and 30 ft (9.2 metres) high. There were smaller buildings to house livestock and for storage. The whole was enclosed by a bank and ditch with a palisade fence on top of the bank. The group lived on site from February 1977 until the end of March 1978. From April 1977 the group began to phase out the modern tools using ancient tools and techniques. Their accommodation in two person tents ceased on 30 April 1977 when they moved into the still unfinished roundhouse.
Fire
Fire was the central to their Iron Age existence. It was essential for cooking, warmth, blacksmithing, pottery, and even wood work where a hot metal rod was used to burn holes in wood. A fire was kept continuously burning in the centre of the roundhouse. After struggling with fire making for some time the group eventually mastered the technique using a fire drill and block made of willow.
Food
For the first ten weeks the group survived on food and supplies from supermarkets. But once the harsh weather relented and the settlement was self-sufficient, the group grew its own crops and used domesticated animals for dairy and meat. The settlement had several goats, cows, sheep, pig, chickens and geese for the group's use. Breakfast almost every day consisted of porridge of boiled wheat with milk and, if any was present, honey. On Sundays they treated themselves to bread with smeared honey and perhaps butter.
Their diet can be said to have consisted primarily of wheat, milk and meat. One of the daily tasks for the entire group was milling wheat for bread on a small quern. They made a soft curd cheese out of goat milk almost daily. They also had meat frequently which they obtained by slaughtering their animals although some group members were vegetarians. Eggs and fish were occasional food. Field beans and peas, parsnips and leeks were grown by the group as they are thought to have been available foods in Britain at the time. Many other foods were not grown or eaten by the group because they would not have been available. These 'not Iron Age' foods included potatoes, rice, cabbage, carrots, swede, onion, turnip. Seasonal foraging for things such as wild garlic, young beach and lime tree leaves, mushrooms, blackberries and hazel nuts supplemented their diet for short periods during the spring and autumn. Hunting for rabbits, hares and the occasional pheasant made occasional additions to the regular diet.
The cooking was done communally with each couple being responsible for the meals and the fire for 24 hours from after evening meal each day. This included responsibility for keeping the fire alight and collecting fire wood. The day following cooking day was baking day when the couple were responsible for baking sufficient bread for the group. This was done in a dome shaped clay oven that was first heated by a fire inside it, then kept warm as the bread cooked with a much reduced fire still inside the oven. Bread consumption was a measure of the group's appetite. This peaked at around 10 loafs a day during hay making when the day length was longest, falling to around 3 loafs a day in December. Interestingly bread demand correlated with day length rather than temperature.