The bark of the birch tree contains a number of compounds which can be distilled to form a viscous tar. This was done as early as the Middle Palaeolithic and was common during the Mesolithic. The site of Star Carr produced a large number of birch bark rolls and several 'cakes' of tar. The tar is particularly useful as an adhesive and a sealant.

​As well as the tar, the bark is prized for being highly flammable. One hypothesis for the many rolls of bark found at Star Carr was that they were burnt as torches, either for lighting a camp or perhaps during night fishing for eels.

​Our experiments looked at some of these potential uses of birch bark, testing how viable the rolls are as torches and looking at methods of distilling tar.