TRACES of a supper cooked 3,500 years ago by Bronze Age hut dwellers have been discovered on Dartmoor. The intriguing find was one of many to be unearthed during a seven-year archaeology project at Bellever, Postbridge. With funding now at an end the two circular structures are being backfilled by conservationists from the Tavistock Taskforce. Dartmoor National Park Authority archaeologist Andy Crabb believes the experience has added considerably to the nation's understanding of its prehistoric past. 'On Dartmoor we've probably got the best Bronze Age landscapes in north-west Europe, if not the whole of Europe,' he said. 'At the latest Bellever excavations we found 140 sherds of pottery, maybe 160. 'We also found eleven post holes which were supporting the roof and lots of organic material which we could date. 'In the post holes themselves we found charcoal which dated in the lab to between 1,600 – 1,400BC.' The pot that contained the carbonised food remains — no more than a dark streak in the gritty baked clay — is known as Trevisker Ware after the site in Cornwall where it was first identified. It had been laid face up on the floor with many other utensils in what Mr Crabb believes was a deliberate shutting down of the site at one point in its history. Further analysis could reveal exactly what had been cooked in it. Mr Crabb said the two Bellever hut circles, among perhaps 5,000 across the moor, provided evidence of the area's first settled farmers. Work with the trowel has revealed several phases of occupation, a paved courtyard being laid at one time between the two structures and their overlapping thatch providing a covered storage area. The properties' interior walls had once been lined, perhaps with skins or grasses woven between wooden poles. Their occupants might have lived in what appears to be a remote spot but not only was there a cluster of similar dwellings nearby but finds such as Baltic amber elsewhere on the moor confirm international trade was taking place. Although no evidence of Dartmoor Bronze Age tin extraction exists it is likely the material was being obtained through streaming and in great demand. Even after the homes had fallen into disrepair, later generations returned to construct a ceremonial cairn in which was left the offering of a tool. 'Perhaps it was their way of acknowledging that this was already an old place, somewhere their ancestors had lived and therefore significant to their people,' said Mr Crabb. 'It's all fantastically well preserved. When the site was abandoned all those years ago a layer of peat built up over the site and that's what saved it. 'If we can get more funding then we will return but we've had six or seven years of good excavation up here and we'd be lucky if we could come back. 'It's already added a great deal to our understanding of the Bronze Age, provided some colour if you like.' The Forestry Commission is set to keep the site open for visitors. For details ask at the Postbridge Visitor Centre where a Bronze Age exhibition is being staged.