Posted on 08/24/2006 11:25:40 AM PDT by Marius3188
Archaeologists working on a gas pipeline near Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire have unearthed what they believe to be a 3,400-year-old canoe.
Work has stopped on a section of the pipeline near St Botolphs to allow the Bronze Age oak relic to be recovered.
It is the first such discovery in Wales and only 150 exist across Europe.
Senior archaeologist Neil Fairburn said: "You could never have expected to find anything like this in this small wetland area, it's just awesome."
The team has also found evidence of a small settlement, a small amount of property and other items, such as polished stone rings.
Fragment
Mr Fairburn, who works for the National Grid, said: "Everybody here is excited and it's unlikely they'll ever work on anything like this again."
It was found six weeks ago less than a metre below the surface in a marshy area of land, but archaeologists have only just had it confirmed what the find was. Work was stopped immediately.
A fragment was sent to experts in Miami, who radio carbon dated it to 1,420 BC.
The canoe is carved from a single trunk of oak, and measures 4.5m x 0.9m (15ft x 3ft).
It is being kept continuously wet to prevent it from rotting.
Mr Fairburn added: "The wet conditions have provided beautiful preservation conditions for the wood.
"If the gas pipeline had not been coming through here we would not have this."
It will take another two weeks before the team is ready to move the canoe, which will be handed over to the National Museum of Wales.
Contractors have been moved to work on other parts of the route, which will run the breadth of Wales.
The natural gas pipeline will link two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals at Milford with the UK's gas supply.
There have been protests against the LNG and pipeline project on safety and environmental grounds - and this was not the first time work had been stopped after an unexpected discovery.
Earlier this year work was stopped on a section of the route at St Clears after a human thigh bone and other fragments were unearthed by contractors.
The remains were later identified as specimens used by the medical profession or students.
Bronze Age canoe
GGG ping
That's why the US is great. Here, construction workers work on pipelines.
Paging Al "up the creek without one" Gore.
Tippa canoe and a pipeline too!.......
I was once working on a rig and this guy walked up and wanted us to stop drilling because he said we were working on "pre-historic dirt."
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Neat!
Paddler ping too
Way cool! Proof that the ancients were crazy, too.
Thanks for the ping, proud_yank!
ROFL! I didn't catch your post before.
No problem.
"I was once working on a rig and this guy walked up and wanted us to stop drilling because he said we were working on "pre-historic dirt."
Words fail me. Did you guys laugh in his face?
Milford Haven is the site of a very large petroleum tank farm. It was formerly an oil refinery but the refining system has been closed for several years.
Thanks PY.. pinging Bill
Do you know that SquirrelKing has a paddler ping list?
How about a better headline: "Pipeline Construction Uncovers Bronze Age Canoe."
At the very minimum - while we were running him off.
The design is simple enough that many people groups could have developed something similar on their own. However, the semblance between the Welsh coracle and the bull boats that some American Indians used on the upper Missouri River was part of why some people once believed that the Mandan Indians were descendants of the Welsh explorer Madoc.
Bill
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