Editing Sweet Track (section)

==Construction==
[[File:Sweet track cross section2.jpg|thumb|right|Diagram showing a cross section of the Sweet Track]]
[[File:Sweet Track replica.jpg|alt=Two wooden posts set in the ground and crossing at an angle supporting a wooden board which disappears into tall green reeds|thumb|A replica of the Sweet Track]]
[[File:Reconstruction of the Sweet Track..jpg|thumb|Digital reconstruction of the Sweet Track, southern end]]
Built in 3807 or 3806 BC,<ref Name="Current_Archaeology_somerset-levels">{{cite journal|last=Brunning|first=Richard|title=The Somerset Levels|pages=139–143|volume=XV (4)|issue=172 (Special issue on Wetlands)|journal=Current Archaeology|date=February 2001}}</ref><ref name= "BM"/> the track was a walkway consisting mainly of planks of [[oak]] laid end-to-end, supported by crossed pegs of [[ash tree|ash]], oak, and [[Tilia|lime]], driven into the underlying peat.<ref name="bm"/> The planks, which were up to {{convert|40|cm|in}} wide, {{convert|3|m|in}} long and less than {{convert|5|cm|in}} thick, were cut from trees up to 400&nbsp;years old and {{convert|1|m|in}} in diameter, felled and split using only stone axes, wooden wedges, and mallets.<ref name="Coles Bryony">{{cite journal|last=Coles|first=Bryony|date=15 October 1987|title=Archaeology follows a wet track|journal=New Scientist|issue=1582|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CYz2qg55tPYC&q=Sweet%20Track&pg=PA46}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The length, straightness, and lack of forks or branches in the pegs suggest that they were taken from [[coppicing|coppiced]] woodland.<ref>{{harvnb|Coles|Coles|1986|page=50}}</ref> Longitudinal log rails up to {{convert|6.1|m|ft}} long and {{convert|7.6|cm|in}} in diameter, made of mostly [[hazel]] and [[alder]], were laid down and held in place with the pegs, which were driven at an angle across the rails and into the peat base of the bog.<ref name="bm"/><ref name="otter">{{cite book|last=Otter|first=R. A.|title=Civil Engineering Heritage: Southern England|publisher=Thomas Telford ltd|location=London|year=1994|page=101|isbn=978-0-7277-1971-3}}</ref> Notches were then cut into the planks to fit the pegs, and the planks were laid along the X shapes to form the walkway.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Fleming, Neil|author2=Grant, Jim|author3=Gorin, Sam|title=The archaeology coursebook: an introduction to themes, sites, methods and skills|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2008|page=277|isbn=978-0-415-46286-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgRG99HriOUC&q=sweet%20track&pg=PA277}}</ref> In some places a second rail was placed on top of the first one to bring the plank above it level with the rest of the walkway.<ref>{{harvnb|Coles|Coles|1986|p=112}}</ref> Some of the planks were then stabilised with slender, vertical wooden pegs driven through holes cut near the end of the planks and into the peat, and sometimes the clay, beneath.<ref>{{harvnb|Coles|Coles|1980|p=25}}</ref> At the southern end of the construction smaller trees were used, and the planks split across the grain to utilise the full diameter of the trunk.<ref name="Coles Bryony"/> Fragments of other tree species including [[holly]], [[willow]], [[Populus|poplar]], [[dogwood]], [[ivy]], [[birch]], and [[apple]] have also been found.<ref name="sshersweettrack">{{cite web|title=Sweet Track, Shapwick Heath|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/10739|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=South West Heritage Trust|access-date=29 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003094636/http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/10739|archive-date=3 October 2016}}</ref>

The [[wetland]] setting indicates that the track components must have arrived [[prefabrication|prefabricated]], before being assembled on site,<ref name="bm"/> although the presence of wood chips and chopped branches indicates that some trimming was performed locally.<ref name="sshersweettrack"/> The track was constructed from about {{convert|200,000|kg|lbs}} of timber, but Coles estimates that once the materials were transported to the site, ten men could have assembled it in one day.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Daniel|first=Glyn|date=9 October 1986|title=World's oldest road|journal=New Scientist|volume=261|issue=2529|pages=100–106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_35Z2EMyzAkC&q=Sweet%20Track%20to%20Glastonbury%3A%20Somerset%20Levels%20in%20Prehistory%20%28New%20Aspects%20of%20Antiquity&pg=PA60|bibcode=1989SciAm.261e.100C|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1189-100|url-access=subscription}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The Sweet Track was used only for about ten years;<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rahtz|first1=Phillip|last2=Watts|first2= Lorna|title=Glastonbury Myth and Archaeology|year=2003|publisher=Tempus|location=Stroud|isbn=978-0-7524-2548-1|page=25}}</ref> rising water levels may have engulfed it, and therefore curtailed its use.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wood Culture: Programme7-08|url=http://www.ccanw.co.uk/assets/files/Wood_Wisdom_Panels.pdf|publisher=Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World|access-date=8 June 2010|page=2|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409184902/http://www.ccanw.co.uk/assets/files/Wood_Wisdom_Panels.pdf|archive-date=9 April 2011}}</ref> The variety of objects found alongside the track suggest that it was in daily use as part of the farming life of the community.<ref name="Costen"/> Since its discovery, it has been determined that parts of the Sweet Track were built along the route of an even earlier track, the [[Post Track]], which was constructed thirty years earlier in 3838 BC.<ref name="hill-cotttingham">{{cite book|last1=Hill-Cottingham|first1=Pat|last2=Briggs|first2=D.|last3=Brunning|first3=R.|last4=King|first4=A.|last5=Rix|first5=G|title=The Somerset Wetlands|year=2006|publisher=Somerset Books|isbn=978-0-86183-432-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Post Track, Shapwick Heath|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/10740|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=South West JHeritage Trust|access-date=29 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003093027/http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/10740|archive-date=3 October 2016}}</ref>