Featured: Please Sign the Petition: Amend the Ancient Monuments Act to ban all building on Scheduled Sites

Please Sign the Petition: Amend the Ancient Monuments Act to ban all building on Scheduled Sites

Random Image

Little Woodbury

Little Woodbury

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds

Login

Register here - as a registered user you get more features and fewer ads.

Who's Online

There are currently, 813 guests and 10 members online.

Sponsors

Ancient trackway revealed in Beccles, Suffolk Suffolk

Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 17 February 2010  Page Views: 15157

Multi-period

<< News >>

Country: England County: Suffolk Type: Ancient Trackway

Internal Links:

Ancient timbers uncovered as part of engineering work and mistaken for modern fence-posts could belong to a 4,000-year-old walkway across marshland on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, archaeologists revealed last night. The archaeological find, the first of its kind in the region, has been made on the banks of the River Waveney during flood defence work.

Iron Age timbers have been preserved “extraordinarily well” according to archaeologists working at the site, on the Suffolk side of the river, near Beccles.

Now the contractor, Broadland Environmental Services Limited (BESL), has roped off the area and paid for a three-week dig to take place at the site to see what else can be found out about the wooden structure and composite decking.

Jane Sidell, English Heritage archaeological science advisor called the discovery a “nationally important find”.

“This is the first such structure to have been discovered within Suffolk and is one of only a few in Britain,” she said.

“And as such is a nationally- important find. It gives us an excellent opportunity to examine ancient, possibly ritual, use of the marshland, and how the marshes have developed over time.”

William Fletcher, from Suffolk County Council's archaeological service, said the find was “something we are very excited about”.

“We don't really know what the timbers would have been for, but one possibility is that they could have been used as some kind of boundary marker. They are 3,000 to 4,000 years old.

“Another possibility is that it was a walkway or causeway used to get people out across the marshes.

“Before the area was drained, it would have been very marshy and this could have been a way of getting out over the marshes to the river.”

The land where the timbers were discovered is owned by Beccles Town Council, and it is hoped that a display might be set up in the town once the dig is complete to show local people what has been found out about the site.

More: Beccles and Bungay Journal

Note: Update on Beccles excavation and trackway, see latest comment
Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

·
News
·
Please add your thoughts on this site

Farmers in Prehistoric Britain

Farmers in Prehistoric Britain

More on Multi-period

Sponsors

More News

See all News →

"Ancient trackway revealed in Beccles, Suffolk" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Prehistoric wooden posts found at third Waveney site by coldrum on Sunday, 23 October 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
Prehistoric wooden posts found at third Waveney site

The mystery surrounding the discovery of prehistoric wooden posts on the marshes in Waveney has deepened following the discovery of a third site.


Three rows of Iron Age wooden posts were discovered on Beccles marshes in 2006, prompting experts to undertake a number of archaeological digs to try to unravel their significance. A similar site was found in nearby Barsham the following year.

A team from the University of Birmingham has now descended on a third site by the river at Geldeston after similar posts were unearthed as flood defence work was carried out last summer.

Dr Ben Gearey, a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Birmingham, said the sites are “pretty rare” and are all likely to be linked, with Barsham and Geldeston appearing to be aligned with each other across the river.

“There are not many other sites in the country like this,” he said.

Talking about the Geldeston site, he added: “We seem to have a line of posts, possibly a triple line of big oak posts.

“We do not have a date yet, but the posts have tool marks on them typical of iron tools, so it is looking like probably being Iron Age, maybe Romano-British. We have also found fragments of Romano-British pottery. It is certainly late prehistoric.

“The Beccles site is late Iron Age, and has been dated very precisely to 75BC through dendrochronology.

“This site is probably around the same age or maybe a bit later.”

Dr Gearey and his team are spending three weeks investigating the site at Geldeston. Their dig comes to an end this week.

Six students and four members of staff are taking part and so far they have discovered about 13 oak posts of different shapes and sizes preserved in the peat.

Dr Gearey said there are various ideas about the significance of the posts.

“The sites all focus on the river,” he said. “There are various thoughts and feelings and we have sat around in the evenings and talked about it. The river is a barrier to movement, but also facilitates movement of people and trade, so there is that element of providing access to the river.

“In prehistoric times you could not have walked down to the river like we do now, so there is the element of maybe demarcating a route way to the river.

“Another idea is that on the river itself it is quite hard to see where you are in this landscape if you are in a boat.

“These sites might have been quite monumental. Some posts could have protruded three or four meters above the ground, which would have been visible certainly from the river in a canoe or boat. There is also the aspect of marking territory.”

It is not known whether the posts might have supported some kind of structure, but Dr Gearey said that at present it is not thought they did.

There was a chance for the public to find out more at an open day yesterday which was followed by a talk in the village hall.http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/prehistoric_wooden_posts_found_at_third_waveney_site_1_945262?
[ Reply to This ]

Prehistoric wooden posts found at third Waveney site by Andy B on Friday, 23 September 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
Three rows of Iron Age wooden posts were discovered on Beccles marshes in 2006, prompting experts to undertake a number of archaeological digs to try to unravel their significance. A similar site was found in nearby Barsham the following year.

A team from the University of Birmingham has now descended on a third site by the river at Geldeston after similar posts were unearthed as flood defence work was carried out last summer.

Dr Ben Gearey, a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Birmingham, said the sites are “pretty rare” and are all likely to be linked, with Barsham and Geldeston appearing to be aligned with each other across the river.

“There are not many other sites in the country like this,” he said.

Talking about the Geldeston site, he added: “We seem to have a line of posts, possibly a triple line of big oak posts.

“We do not have a date yet, but the posts have tool marks on them typical of iron tools, so it is looking like probably being Iron Age, maybe Romano-British. We have also found fragments of Romano-British pottery. It is certainly late prehistoric.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/prehistoric_wooden_posts_found_at_third_waveney_site_1_945262

The dig was featured in BBC Digging for Britain 2011, with Alice Roberts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01539xm
[ Reply to This ]

Iron Age road link to Iceni tribe by Andy B on Monday, 22 August 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
A suspected Iron Age road, made of timber and preserved in peat for 2,000 years, has been uncovered by archaeologists in East Anglia.

The site, excavated in June, may have been part of a route across the River Waveney and surrounding wetland at Geldeston in Norfolk, say experts.

Causeways were first found in the area in 2006, during flood defence work at the nearby Suffolk town of Beccles.

It is thought the road is pre-Roman, built by the local Iceni tribe.

Exact dating has yet to be carried out but tree-ring evidence suggests a date of 75BC.

That dates the timber road to more than 100 years before the Roman invasion, which saw the Iceni and their leader Boudicca lead a revolt which threatened to end Roman rule.

More at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14503302
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Journey down Bronze Age motorway by Andy B on Wednesday, 17 February 2010
(User Info | Send a Message)
Single page update from Birmingham Archaeo-Environmental here

http://www.ba-env.bham.ac.uk/projects/pdfs/beccles.pdf
[ Reply to This ]

Beccles dig unearths further discoveries by Andy B on Wednesday, 17 February 2010
(User Info | Send a Message)

Archaeologists attempting to piece together the history of an Iron Age site on Beccles marshes believe they are moving a step closer to drawing conclusions.

A team of students from University of Birmingham descended on the marshes for three weeks in the summer to try to unravel the mystery surrounding the site.

In 2006, three rows of wooden posts inserted into the ground were unearthed while flood defence work was being carried out.

The posts have been traced for about 500m from the contemporary dryland edge just outside Beccles, north to the edge of the River Waveney.

The digs have confirmed that the three parallel rows of large oak posts have been dated using tree rings to 75BC, which is the late Iron Age. It was initially believed that the posts could mark out a causeway that provided a main route into Beccles, although further interpretation of the site is currently under way.

Dr Ben Gearey, who led the team of staff and students from Birmingham Archaeo-Environmental, said: “We're not sure of the completed form or function of the site yet, but we have evidence from this year's excavations of the presence of a ground level platform or walkway on some parts of the structure at least. We are waiting for further scientific dating to indicate if this was part of the original structure or is a later addition.”

He said there were very few similar sites elsewhere to compare it to and that possible functions could have been to provide access to and from the river, or across, possibly by ferry, as links via the river to the sea and to Europe for trade were important at that time.

He added: “The 'monumental' character of the structure may be important so perhaps it was intended to be some form of territorial marker, although the river did not mark a tribal boundary in the Iron Age.

“The function is also dependent on whether it continues on the other side of the river. The engineering works will be taking place on the Norfolk side later this year; we hope to be able to have a look then.”

Last summer's dig was the third year of excavations, following digs in 2006 and 2007. The site has “exceptional” preservation of organic remains, as the peat deposits provide a saturated environment that prevents decay processes.

The project, funded by English Heritage, also involved experts from Suffolk County Council.

Now the team has secured funding for one of the posts to be conserved, which it hopes to donate to the Beccles & District Museum, but is looking for funding to pay for a display case and board.

Source:
http://www.advertiser24.co.uk/content/advertiser24/news/story.aspx?brand=WAVOnline&category=News&tBrand=WAVOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED07+Jan+2010+13%3A24%3A38%3A160
[ Reply to This ]

Prehistoric causeway is uncovered by Andy B on Thursday, 03 August 2006
(User Info | Send a Message)
A couple of photos on the BBC story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/5241084.stm
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Journey down Bronze Age motorway by Anonymous on Wednesday, 02 August 2006
Where can we see some photos of those deckings.
Where they circular?
Maybe they could be used as nutating walkways for henges.

http://henges.no.sapo.pt
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Journey down Bronze Age motorway by Anonymous on Saturday, 04 July 2009
    mm..... yes, perhaps if they are circular, they may be modelled on the flying saucer that brought in the work force.

    Ah, 'I jest' you say, but as they didn't have helicopters in those days, it could only have been little green men, (oh all right then, brown men coz they would have got muddy), who were able to come in with their saucers.

    Perhaps if the dig is extended, they may find the cup.
    [ Reply to This ]

Journey down Bronze Age motorway by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 August 2006
(User Info | Send a Message)
For ancient builders and craftsmen, it was a massive effort on a par with creating Stonehenge or the Cerne Abbas Giant.

But a unique discovery by archaeologists in one East Anglian town resembles something rather more familiar - patio decking.

Most people might think of decking as a modern trend beloved of garden makeover shows, but a new find in Beccles shows it was in use thousands of years ago.

Last month the EDP revealed how ancient timber posts discovered on Beccles marshes were causing excitement among archaeologists. (see above article)

With excavation work now nearly finished, experts have a much clearer idea of what they have found - and describe it as nationally or even internationally important.

A wooden causeway more than half a mile long is believed to have run from dry land on the edge of Beccles, across a swamp to a spot on the river Waveney.

At 16ft wide, it was capable of carrying carts and was the Bronze Age equivalent of a motorway. And...

Read the rest of this post...
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>
We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.