Sweet Track

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Sweet Track

The Sweet Track

Sweet Track

The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. It is one of the oldest engineered roads known and the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe....
is an ancient causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated on a sandbank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. A transport corridor that is carried instead on a series of arches, perhaps approaching a bridge, is a viaduct....
in the Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

The Somerset Levels is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, England, between the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills hills....
, England

England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. It is one of the oldest engineered roads known and the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:...
. Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology

Dendrochronology

Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. This technique was developed during the first half of the 20th century originally by the astronomer A....
) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC. It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world.

The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet.

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Encyclopedia

The Sweet Track

Sweet Track

Causeway

Somerset Levels

The Somerset Levels is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, England, between the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills hills....
, England

England

Northern Europe

Dendrochronology

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood . Typically the water is shallow and features Poaceaees, Juncaceaees, Phragmites, typhas, Cyperaless, and other herbaceous plants....
between what was then an island at Westhay

Westhay

Westhay is a village in Somerset, England. It is situated in the parish of Meare, north west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, in the Mendip district....
, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick

Shapwick, Somerset

Shapwick is a village on the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It is situated to the west of Glastonbury....
, a distance close to 2,000 metres (about 1.24 miles). The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the Levels.

Built in the 39th century BC, during the Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
period, the track consisted of crossed poles of ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The leaf are opposite , and mostly pinnately-compound, simple in a few species....
, oak

Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
and lime (Tilia
Tilia

Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, in Asia , Europe and eastern North America; it is not native to western North America....
) which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Curves at the bases of the poles show that they were from coppiced

Coppicing

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management in which young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree, or Living stump, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again....
woodland.

Due to the wetland

Wetland

File:Mangrove trees in Everglades.JPGA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water....
setting, the components must have been prefabricated

Prefabrication

Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located....
elsewhere.

Most of the track remains in its original location, and several hundred metres of it are now actively conserved using a pumped water distribution system. Other portions are stored at the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than 7 million Object , are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present....
, London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
, while a reconstruction can be seen at the Peat Moors Centre

Peat Moors Centre

The Peat Moors Centre lies on the road between Shapwick and Westhay in Somerset, England.The museum is dedicated to the archaeology, history and geology of the Somerset Levels....
near Glastonbury

Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town has a population of 8,800....
.

Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was actually built along the route of an even earlier track, the Post Track, dating from 3838 BC and so 30 years older.

Sweet Track

See also

External links