Timber structure older than Stonehenge found

Timber structure older than Stonehenge found

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Radiocarbon dating shows London platform is about 6,000 years old.

Archaeologists have unexpectedly uncovered London’s oldest timber structure, which predates Stonehenge by about 500 years.

The structure, apparently a platform or trackway used to make a boggy area more navigable, was found during the excavation of a prehistoric peat bog adjacent to Belmarsh Prison in Plumstead, Greenwich, in advance of the construction of a new prison building.

Radiocarbon dating has shown the structure to be nearly 6,000 years old, well before Stonehenge was erected. Previously, the oldest timber s

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The platform or trackway has been buried over time and was found about 15.4 feet (4.7m) beneath two yards (meters) of peat adjacent to an ancient river channel.

Wetlands adjacent to rivers such as the Thames were an important source of food for prehistoric people, and timber trackways and platforms made it easier to cross the boggy terrain. The structure discovered at Plumstead is an early example of people adapting the natural landscape to meet human needs, researchers said.

Wow, the more we dig, the more we find. Just thought I would share this with y'all.

Enjoy!

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It's been posted before but this is the first time I've seen a picture of it.

Good find OP!

reply to post by Aggie Man
Hiya Aggie, what's the odds on this one getting hundreds of posts? Egypt and South America always gets the attention. Anyway, I find this stuff interesting all the time.

Something most people don't know is that we're sitting on top of a lot of our 'lost history.' Rome, Athens, London, Madrid, Constantinople and loads of others have been population centers for centuries. The big cities are like a Scooby Doo sandwich of layers going back to a few stone tools that might never see the light of day. Once upon a time the Thames was a little stream and Britain carried on way into the North Sea, down there's gotta be a lot of interesting stuff :

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

Hiya Aggie, what's the odds on this one getting hundreds of posts? Egypt and South America always gets the attention. Anyway, I find this stuff interesting all the time.

Something most people don't know is that we're sitting on top of a lot of our 'lost history.' Rome, Athens, London, Madrid, Constantinople and loads of others have been population centers for centuries. The big cities are like a Scooby Doo sandwich of layers going back to a few stone tools that might never see the light of day. Once upon a time the Thames was a little stream and Britain carried on way into the North Sea, down there's gotta be a lot of interesting stuff :

It probably won't get near the same attention. Egypt and South America get all of the attention due to the mystique, which most see as lacking in other ancient archaeological sites. They all get my attention though. And YES, we are all sitting on top of ancient archaeology. Maybe I should excavate my back yard LOL