Start on preserving Seahenge

Submitted by Andy B on Friday, 17 May 2002 Page Views: 1738

**Seahenge Laser Scanning** submitted by Andy B : Flag Fen Archaeological centre, Peterborough. Seahenge laser scan records earliest metal axe cuts found in britian. Alistair Carty (aka Alligator Descartes), director of Archaeoptics, scans the timbers using the laser scan. Pic: Gareth Fuller (Vote or comment on this photo)

The preservation of Norfolk's Bronze Age timber circle is due to get under way in the next few weeks.

The future of Seahenge, which was dug up from the beach at Holme, near Hunstanton, in the summer of 1999, was finally resolved towards the end of last year.

Following extensive research, English Heritage rejected an earlier, widely-supported proposal to rebury the 4000-year-old monument on the shoreline.

Experts agreed that conservation was the best and most responsible way of safeguarding the circle, which has been hailed as one of the most important discoveries for British archaeology in recent years.
The 55 oak posts and central, upturned tree stump have been stored in tanks at the Flag Fen Bronze Age centre, near Peterborough, since their controversial excavation.

Preparations for the preservation programme, which could take up to five years, are nearing completion.

"We were planning to do it last year but the weather was so horrible, with the rain and the mess, we thought that it wasn't cost-effective," said Maisie Taylor, an independent specialist consultant who has been recruited by English Heritage.

"We decided just to shelve it until the weather cheered up, but on the other hand we don't want to delay it until the weather gets too hot because it will start affecting the timbers.

"We are on the point of starting physically doing things. At the moment we are at the boring practical stage of getting costings and finding out who can produce the stuff we want to the quality we want."

The conservation process, which is being paid for by English Heritage at a cost of £50,000, involves the gradual extraction of water from the timbers and its replacement with a type of wax to fill out the myriad of holes, before freeze-drying.

"One of the things we have to decide is whether to put it in one big tank or two smaller ones," said Mrs Taylor. "We are trying to find out the effects of building a big tank on one spot."

English Heritage is funding a mobile exhibition to tour north-west Norfolk and explain the story of Seahenge.

Discussions are taking place with Norfolk County Council's archaeological unit about the content of the display, which is expected to be launched at Holme in the autumn, ahead of a series of visits to local venues next summer.

"You want to produce a display which is going to be informative to people - but also interesting," said Norfolk's archaeology and environment officer, Brian Ayers.

"An awful lot may have been written about it but we need to distil that in an informative way."
Source: East Angian Daily Press

Note: New photos of the Seahenge laser scanning

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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