Iron-Age timbers which once formed part of a causeway across marshes in Suffolk (England) are to go on public display for the first time. Contractors working on the Environment Agency's excavation of a new dyke on Beccles town marshes found timber remains which had been hand-sculpted. The 2,000-year-old pieces of wood, found last year, were perfectly preserved in waterlogged conditions. They could be seen from 1100 to 1500 BST on Saturday at Beccles Town Marshes. Entrance was free and there were students and archaeologists on hand to guide people through the site.
     Archaeologists said the wooden causeway was used from the Bronze Age in about 1000 BCE, through the Iron Age to Roman times and the 4th Century CE. Results suggest the more than 2,624ft (800m) long wooden causeway may have run from dry land on the edge of Beccles, across a swamp to a spot on the River Waveney. The 16ft-wide (5m) causeway would have carried carts and was the Bronze Age equivalent of a motorway. The wet conditions of the site mean that organic material such as wood has been well preserved.

Source: BBC News (27 July 2007)