Sweet Track

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sweet Track, an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England, is the oldest known engineered roadway.

The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet. It has also been called the Eclipse Track.<ref>Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0850334616.</ref> It extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (over a mile). The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the Levels.

Built in the spring of 3806 BC during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of ash, oak and lime (Tilia) which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consists of oak planks laid end-to-end.

Due to the wetland setting, the components must also have been prefabricated.

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. Portions are stored at the British Museum, London, while a reconstruction can be seen at the Peat Moors Centre near Glastonbury.

Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it been determined that the track was actually built along the route of an even earlier abandonned track, the Post Track, dating from 3838 BC and so 32 years older<Ref>Hill-Cottingham, Pat, Briggs, D., Brunning, R., King, A. & Rix, G (2006). The Somerset Wetlands. Somerset Books. ISBN 0861834321.</Ref>.