Perfectly preserved bronze age wheel unearthed in Cambridgeshire - Polidicks

[img]https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/504b9161dfed899dcf1705869127939a832a7581/0_78_3500_2099/master/3500.jpg?w=1920&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&[/img] [quote]The largest and most perfectly preserved bronze age wheel ever discovered in the UK, made of oak planks almost 3,000 years ago, has emerged from a site in Cambridgeshire dubbed a Fenland Pompeii. “This site is one continuing surprise, but if you had asked me, a perfectly preserved wheel is the last thing I would have expected to find,” said the site director, Mark Knight, from the Cambridge university archaeology unit. “On this site objects never seen anywhere else tend to turn up in multiples, so it’s certainly not impossible we’ll go on to find another even better wheel.” Archaeologists are carefully excavating the wheel, which was found still attached to its hub and scorched by fire that destroyed the settlement built on stilts over a tributary of the river Nene. The site was first revealed by the deep pits dug for a brick clay quarry at Must farm, on the outskirts of Peterborough, overlooked by a row of wind turbines and a McCain’s crisps factory. [B]A neat round hole punched through the wheel was left by a 20th century geologist who inadvertently bored straight through it[/B] but could have had no idea of the significance of the timber fragments in his soil sample. In the fire, possibly started by a cooking blaze that got disastrously out of control some 3,000 years ago, the roundhouses collapsed into the river with all their contents.[/quote] Source: [url]https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/19/archaeologists-excavate-bronze-age-wheel-cambridgeshire?CMP=fb_gu[/url]

I find it strangely fascinating a geologist bored through it.

Neat! Hope it exposes a bit more about civilisation back then.

Awesome, Its not often you find things like this.

Settlement on stilts sounds like some fantasy game setting. Would be amazing to see a reconstruction... or even a floor plan. I wonder what the people were like. Thats long before the celts migrated there, would have been a totally different ethnic group.

-snip- i fail

[QUOTE=download;49771731]I find it strangely fascinating a geologist bored through it.[/QUOTE] Lots of people end up accidentally wrecking ancient stuff, it's more common than you think. For instance, the Romans used to build roads through Bronze age barrows thinking they were hills.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49772110]Lots of people end up accidentally wrecking ancient stuff, it's more common than you think. For instance, the Romans used to build roads through Bronze age barrows thinking they were hills.[/QUOTE] I knew a guy who was doing some pipe repair work, they sent out a remote drill that burrows in a straight line from one point to another Turns out that drilled right into a dude through his leg, up his body and out his mouth. it was on time team if i recall

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;49772169]I knew a guy who was doing some pipe repair work, they sent out a remote drill that burrows in a straight line from one point to another Turns out that drilled right into a dude through his leg, up his body and out his mouth. it was on time team if i recall[/QUOTE] It was after that incident that "Blackout Barry" gave up drinking for good.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49772110]Lots of people end up accidentally wrecking ancient stuff, it's more common than you think. For instance, the Romans used to build roads through Bronze age barrows thinking they were hills.[/QUOTE] Farmers today plow over barrows all the time, there are supposed to be barrows everywhere but chances are if they're on farmland they've long since been plowed into nothing. The farmer is the enemy of the archaeologist.

[QUOTE=RainbowStalin;49772323]Farmers today plow over barrows all the time, there are supposed to be barrows everywhere but chances are if they're on farmland they've long since been plowed into nothing. The farmer is the enemy of the archaeologist.[/QUOTE] And yet also their best friends, because they're always finding sites.

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;49772169]I knew a guy who was doing some pipe repair work, they sent out a remote drill that burrows in a straight line from one point to another Turns out that drilled right into a dude through his leg, up his body and out his mouth. it was on time team if i recall[/QUOTE] Jesus fucking christ thats some final destination shit right there.

[QUOTE=Cocacoladude;49779075]Jesus fucking christ thats some final destination shit right there.[/QUOTE] the "dude" was probably a skeleton, not a living person (I hope)

[QUOTE=download;49771731]I find it strangely fascinating a geologist bored through it.[/QUOTE] I once drilled through some rodents stash in a campaign, had to redo the core, the one we got had all sorts of seeds in it