Editing Sweet Track (section)

{{short description|Ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Sweet Track
| native_name = 
| native_language = 
| image = Sweet track.jpg
| alt = Vague straight track through boggy brush-covered ground
| caption = Part of the Sweet Track oak causeway, [[British Museum]]
| locmapin = Somerset
| coordinates = {{coord|51|09|51|N|2|49|35|W|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Shapwick Heath]], [[Somerset Levels]], England
| area = 
| built = 3807 or 3806 BC
| architect = 
| architecture = 
| governing_body = 
| designation1 = Scheduled Ancient Monument
| designation1_offname = 
| designation1_date = 13 June 1996<ref name="sshersweettrack"/>
| designation1_number = 27978 (was Somerset 399)
| designation2 = Scheduled Ancient Monument
| designation2_offname = 
| designation2_date = 22 April 1996<ref name="sshersweettrack"/>
| designation2_number = 27979 (was Somerset 400)
}}

The '''Sweet Track''' is an [[ancient trackway]], or [[causeway]], in the [[Somerset Levels]], England, named after its finder, Ray Sweet. It was built in 3807&nbsp;BC (determined using [[dendrochronology]] – tree-ring dating) and is the second-oldest [[timber trackway]] discovered in the British Isles, dating to the [[Neolithic British Isles|Neolithic]]. The Sweet Track was predominantly built along the course of an earlier structure, the [[Post Track]].

The track extended across the now largely drained [[marsh]] between what was then an island at [[Westhay]] and a ridge of high ground at [[Shapwick, Somerset|Shapwick]], a distance close to {{convert|1800|m|ft}} or around {{convert|1800|m|mi|1|disp=out}}.<ref name="new scientist">{{Cite web|title=Science: The day the Sweet Track was built |date=16 June 1990 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212-800-science-the-day-the-sweet-track-was-built/ |issue=1721 |access-date=2021-10-13 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311232408/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212.800-science-the-day-the-sweet-track-was-built.html|archive-date=11 March 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> The track is one of a network that once crossed the [[Somerset Levels]]. Various artifacts and prehistoric finds, including a [[jadeitite]] ceremonial axe head, have been found in the peat bogs along its length.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coles |first1=John |author-link1=John Coles (historian) |last2=Orme |first2=Bryony |author-link2=Bryony Coles |last3=Bishop |first3=A. C. |last4=Woolley |first4=A. R. |name-list-style=amp |date=September 1974 |title=A jade axe from the Somerset Levels |journal=Antiquity |volume=48 |issue=191 |pages=216–220 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00057987 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Construction was of crossed wooden poles, driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that consisted mainly of planks of [[oak]], laid end-to-end. The track was used for a period of only around ten years and was then abandoned, probably due to rising water levels. Following its discovery in 1970, most of the track has been left in its original location, with active [[Conservation-restoration of cultural heritage|conservation]] measures taken, including a water pumping and distribution system to maintain the wood in its damp condition. Some of the track is stored at the [[British Museum]] and at the [[Museum of Somerset]] in Taunton. A reconstruction has been made on which visitors can walk, on the same line as the original, in [[Shapwick Heath|Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve]].