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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 archaeologists have been stunned to find that it was in use from the Bronze Age in around 1000BC, through the Iron Age and to Roman times and at least the 4th century AD.
They can tell because the wooden posts are so well preserved by the wet ground that they can see what kind of tools were used to cut them.
More: EADP
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