One of the perks of volunteering at an Iron Age farm, a gift of Bronze Age (roughly 3,500 years old) oak timber from Testwood Lake, Southampton. Well, it's most probably oak although I think the bridge was made up of other woods.
I've just been researching here. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/book/export/html/354
"While carrying out what they call a watching brief, staff from Wessex Archaeology came across fascinating evidence of early society, including part of the earliest bridge ever definitely identified in England, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c1,500BC."
One man, James Clift (if any of you know him) apparently got them from the excavation and he gave them to a volunteer at Butser. This volunteer shared some of it today and that's how I acquired them. I can only obviously take their word for it, but they're genuine people and I don't doubt them on the age and where they found it, but I can never be sure if it's oak or not, which is my second favourite tree.
I've just been researching here. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/book/export/html/354
"While carrying out what they call a watching brief, staff from Wessex Archaeology came across fascinating evidence of early society, including part of the earliest bridge ever definitely identified in England, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c1,500BC."
One man, James Clift (if any of you know him) apparently got them from the excavation and he gave them to a volunteer at Butser. This volunteer shared some of it today and that's how I acquired them. I can only obviously take their word for it, but they're genuine people and I don't doubt them on the age and where they found it, but I can never be sure if it's oak or not, which is my second favourite tree.
Timbers are fairly straightforward to identify by the differing cell sizes, structures, etc.,
