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- A circle of waterlogged wooden posts found on a remote
beach in Norfolk, England, is transforming our knowledge of Bronze Age
culture 4,000 years ago.
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- The 55 posts, together with the up-turned stump of an
oak tree in the middle, were first spotted on the beach at Holme, near
Hunstanton, last November. They had become exposed after the peat dune
covering them was swept away by winter storms.
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- Norfolk County Council's Archaeological Unit identified
the find as a Bronze Age timber circle dating from around 2000 BC - roughly
contemporary with Stonehenge. Inevitably, the circle was dubbed Seahenge.
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- Left to rot
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- It is thought timber circles were used by prehistoric
cultures to expose their dead to the elements, birds and wild animals -
a practice called excarnation. The belief was that allowing the flesh to
rot from the bones in the open air would liberate the dead person's spirit.
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- How Seahenge could have looked 4,000 years agoThe archaeologists
say the find is unique in Britain, and the best preserved example in Europe.
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- "This is the first time we've ever found a timber
circle intact in Britain," said Mark Brennand of the Norfolk Archaeological
Unit.
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- "The sites of timber circles are not uncommon, but
up to now all we have seen are the soil markings where the timbers once
stood before they crumbled away.
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- "Here, the circle was built in water-logged ground
so it's never dried out and the timbers have been preserved,"
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- An upside-down world
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- What really excited the archaeologists was the discovery
of the large inverted oak stump in the centre of the circle.
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- It is thought to have formed a sort of altar on which
the bodies would have been placed to decay.
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- </olmedia/385000/audio/_388988_maisie.ramArchaeologist
Maisie Taylor describes the conservation process"Other circle sites
we have looked at had large pits in the centre but we had no idea what
caused them because the stump itself had long disappeared," said Mark
Brennand. "Now we know what was there, we can go back and re-evaluate
the sites."
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- Dr Francis Pryor, President of the Council for British
Archaeology, believes the symbolism of the upside-down oak tree is very
important to understanding the Bronze Age mind.
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- "We often find everyday objects deliberately turned
upside down at Bronze Age sites. The inverted oak is a very complex statement.
It is the world turned upside down, just as death is an inversion of life.
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- "From a ritual point of view it symbolises taking
objects out of this world and placing them in the next. We're not absolutely
sure what these people thought that next world was, but we think they envisaged
a parallel world inhabited by their ancestors," Dr Pryor said.
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- Edge of the unknown
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- Forty centuries ago Seahenge would have been further
inland, rather than on the beach as it is now.
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- An excavation by the Norfolk Archaeology Unit suggests
that the circle was originally constructed on swampy ground up to a kilometre
from the sea, which the waves covered at a later date.
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- Survey shows circle was built in freshwater swampDr Pryor
believes the positioning of the timber circle is significant. He suggests
that to Bronze Age man the obvious symbolism of the coastline as a divider
between two worlds, land and sea, made it an appropriate place to mark
the transition between this world and the next.
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- Other archaeologists disagree. They think the position
of Bronze Age funerary sites was chosen simply to mark the borders of land
held by the family or community.
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- Studies of the Seahenge timbers could help answer another
historical puzzle. Excavations of Bronze Age burial sites have turned
up a disproportionate number of male remains. This might be explained
if the bodies of many women and children had been disposed of in timber
circles like Seahenge and the body parts scattered.
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- Uncertain future
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- The archaeologists have to work fast to save Seahenge.
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- The circle is close to the low tide mark on the beach
and could be destroyed by wave erosion now it has been exposed.
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- English Heritage, the UK Government agency responsible
for ancient monuments, is also worried about the numbers of sightseers
and souvenir hunters visiting the site.
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- Specialists clean away the mud of forty centuriesTo protect
the fragile remains it was decided to remove the timbers and take them
away for analysis and conservation. Once lifted, they would be transferred
to Flag Fen, near Peterborough, an archaeological centre which specialises
in the study of prehistoric timber.
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- But just a few timbers had been excavated when the archaeologists
hit a snag.
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- Not everyone wanted the circle moved.
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- Protestors, including self-styled druids and some local
residents, launched a publicity campaign to obstruct the archaeologists'
plans, arguing that much of the importance of the circle lay in its location,
and that it should not be moved.
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- The archaeologists have succeeded in getting a High Court
injunction preventing some of the protestors approaching the site. The
excavation work has been resumed and the transfer of the timbers to Flag
Fen is expected to take two weeks.
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- Cleaned and preserved
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- Techniques similar to those used on Henry VIII's warship
the Mary Rose will preserve the finger posts and the central, up-turned
tree stump 'altar'.
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- Waterlogged timbers are perfectly preservedThe posts
will be submerged in water tanks to protect them from deterioration. Subsequent
forensic work will then include a general examination of the timbers, a
study of tool marks, dating of the wood and examination of the activities
of prehistoric insects.
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- Clear tool marks could provide important information
on early Bronze Age wood working and construction methods. It is the first
time that well preserved tool marks from a complete early Bronze Age site
will be studied in Britain.
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- After the timbers have been cleaned, examined and studied,
it is hoped that Seahenge will be returned to a spot near its original
site and go on public display.
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_388000/388988.stm
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- <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_388000/olmedia/385000/video/_
388988_seahenge2_vi.ram
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