WASTE TIP DIG UNEARTHS 6,000-YEAR-OLD WALKWAY Ancient Trackway, Somerset
Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 22 July 2005 Page Views: 3456
Multi-periodCountry: England County: Somerset Type: Ancient TrackwayInternal Links:
Excited experts yesterday told how the UK's oldest-ever wooden str uctures have been unearthed deep in the West. The 6,500-year-old staves and poles were found by workmen digging holes on land at Walpole, near Bridgwater, as they expanded a waste tip.It is thought the wooden remains were once a causeway and fish weir installed by Stone Age men struggling to stay alive in an area that was then salt marsh. Archaeologists said the discovery was a first for Britain and they now wonder what else may be buried nearby.
"This is unique in the country because it is so early in date, " said Somerset county archaeologist Richard Brunning. "It is a very significant find indeed. We think they are from about 4,500BC, which is before we had farming communities. It was the time of hunter-gatherers, who were quite mobile and it is extremely rare to find any stakes and unique to find wooden structures like this surviving.
"This is from a time, more than 6,000 years ago, before humans had begun to farm land. Instead, they would have relied on wild food such as fish, birds, deer, beaver and nuts." Remains of the causeway and fish weir were found in two neighbouring stream courses, about five metres below the soil of peat and clay.
Fashioned from two layers of wood held in place with small stakes, the causeway would have offered a safer route across the treacherous landscape, possibly between dwellings. Experts believe the weir, made from wooden uprights driven into the ground, would have caught fish at low tide. It would probably have originally supported a wooden mesh, which has now rotted.
More stakes in the stream bed are thought to have been a low-tide walkway. Animal bones from aurochs - massive prehistoric wild cattle - were also found nearby. It is thought the animals may been trapped and drowned in the salty ooze.
The wooden items are amazingly well-preserved, with bark remaining on the timbers.
They have stayed in excellent condition because they have been kept waterlogged, but have also been sealed from the air because of the weight of earth above them.
The items have been removed from the site, which is managed by Wyvern Waste, and are now being kept in water at a store in Glastonbury.
Source: This is Somerset
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