Investigation of the Meare Pool indicates that it was formed by the encroachment of raised peat bogs around it, particularly during the Subatlantic climatic period (1st millennium BC), and core sampling demonstrates that it is filled with at least 2 metres (6.6 ft) of detritus mud.

[7] The villages were built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay.

[8] The two villages, east and west, within Meare Pool appear to originate from a collection of structures erected on the surface of the dried peat, such as tents, windbreaks and animal folds.

[9] Little has been found of walls or roofing material, which has led to speculation that the huts were in fact tent-like structures, which may have only been occupied on a seasonal basis.

The Meare villages were discovered in 1895 but excavation did not start until 1908,[11] with much of the early work being carried out by Arthur Bulleid and Harold Gray.