It could easily have gone on to the bonfire or into the skip. But Derek Fawcett decided to take a closer look at the blackened, waterlogged piece of wood found at the bottom of a trench dug for foundations for a new workshop.
It turned out to be the oldest carved piece of wood to be discovered in Britain, dating back more than 6,000 years. The markings on the wood were made by the people of the late Mesolithic era, 2,000 years before Stonehenge was built and 4,500 years before the Romans came to Britain.
“To say it was a stroke of luck is an understatement,” said Fawcett, a retired surgeon. Historic England, the agency that cares for England’s historic environment, said it was an “amazing” discovery.
Four years ago, Fawcett was having a workshop built at his house in Boxford, Berkshire, in which he hoped to pursue his new retirement hobby of wood-turning, when contractors called him over.
“They asked me to look at something they had pulled out of a hole in the ground,” he said. “It looked like a big stump of wood. I wondered if I could turn it into some nice bowls.”
After hosing it down, Fawcett noticed curious markings on the piece. “I could see they were possibly man-made. I recognised straight away that this was something unusual.”
The piece of oak had been lying in peat – known to be an excellent preservative of organic material – 1.5 metres (5ft) below ground.
Fawcett contacted a local archaeologist, who in turn contacted Historic England. Its experts, working with scientists from the Nottingham Tree-ring Dating Laboratory and the Centre for Isotope Research at the University of Groningen, carried out radiocarbon dating of a timber slice from the wood.
They concluded there was a 95% probability that the piece of wood dated to between 4640BC and 4605BC. That made it 500 years older than the only other known decoratively carved timber discovered in Britain, found near Maerdy in Wales and dating to the late Mesolithic/early Neolithic period (4270BC – 4000BC).
The piece is 1 metre long, 42cm wide and 20cm thick. Historic England said the purpose of the markings was unknown, but they were reminiscent of decoration seen in early Neolithic pottery, and were also believed to be similar to decoration on the Shigir Idol – a wooden sculpture found in the Ural mountains of Russia that at 12,500 years old is believed to be the oldest example of carved wood in the world.
Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England, said: “It’s remarkable that by doing routine building work, a piece of modest-looking worked wood turns out to be the oldest ever found in Britain.
“This exciting find has helped to shine new light on our distant past and we’re grateful to the landowner for recognising its significance. Amazing discoveries like these remind us of the power of archaeology to uncover the hidden narratives that connect us to our roots.”
Fawcett said the find was “very exciting” and that he noticed the markings on the wood purely by chance. He has donated the piece to the West Berkshire Museum in Newbury where it will go on display.
