Portal:Somerset/Selected article/8

The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels. It was built in 3807 or 3806 BC and has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. It was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000 year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison. It is now known that the Sweet Track was largely built over the course of an earlier structure, the Post Track.

The track extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, although much of the marsh has now been drained, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). The track is one of a network that once crossed the Somerset Levels. Various artefacts, including a jadeitite axe head, have been found along its length.

Construction was of crossed wooden poles which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that consisted mainly of planks of oak, laid end-to-end. The track was only used for a period of around 10 years and then abandoned, probably due to rising water levels. Following its discovery in 1970 most of the track has been left in its original location, with active conservation measures taken, including a water pumping and distribution system to maintain the wood in its damp condition. Some of the track is stored at the British Museum and a reconstruction of a section was built at the Peat Moors Centre near Glastonbury. (Full article...)