5,000-Year-Old Timber Found Perfectly Preserved in Marsh

By ⋅ September 27, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
5,000-year-old oak tree found in a marsh in England. (Photo: BBC)

5,000-year-old oak tree found in a marsh in England. (Photo: BBC)

A mighty oak tree once marked the spot we’re looking for in Thursday’s Geo Quiz.

A five thousand year old dense forest of towering black oak trees once covered this eastern region of England.

Now its mostly farmland and bogs spread out along the Great Ouse River.

Recently a farmer made a discovery there near Cambridgeshire when his plow hit a massive oak tree buried in the wet soil.

Experts have now recovered the perfectly preserved 5,000-year-old timber.

So what’s the name this marshland?

A plank cut from the 5,000 year old oak tree. (Photo: BBC)

A plank cut from the 5,000 year old oak tree. (Photo: BBC)


The ancient tree was found buried in farmland in the east of England — at the edge of something called the Fens.

The Fens is the answer to our Geo Quiz.

Hamish Low is overseeing the recovery of the black oak from the Fens.

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Discussion

7 comments for “5,000-Year-Old Timber Found Perfectly Preserved in Marsh”

  • Kim Stafford

    The question for us is this: How shall we live on earth so such a tree can stand again in such a place? Let’s not just make a table. Let’s dedicate that table to such a discussion. I see this as a great opportunity to convene foresters, farmers, children, clergy, poets, and woodworkers to envision a way to grow the oak of our future.

    • timholton

      This is a great suggestion. We need to take the “sustainability” idea beyond minimizing our impact to envisioning actually and actively CULTIVATING the earth–actually “helping in the work of creation,” as William Morris put it. (I get the awe-factor of the table showing off the length and width of
      the boards, but for the noble purpose you suggest, wouldn’t it be nice
      if it were a round table?)

      “The World” should follow up this story with one on what becomes of the table. It’s a deeply significant thing, and its significance for the nation and posterity, as a gift of nature and of our heritage, should be honored by, and dedicated to, such discussions as you suggest. It is something to deeply revere, and its exceptional power to summon forth our reverence should be used to apply that reverence for life on the earth.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shelly-Lloyd/826469442 Shelly Lloyd

    Was I the only one kind of disapointed to hear about it being turned into a table? That just seems so mundane.

    • http://www.facebook.com/kristy.beins Kristy Beins

      The table he described will be absolutely breathtaking! The craftsmanship is unbelievable. (says the wife of a carpenter)

  • mike_inw

    Quote of George Nakashima …..

    “There is drama in the opening of a log: to uncover for the first time
    the beauty in the bole of a tree hidden for centuries, waiting to be
    given this second life. Cutting logs entails a great responsibility, for
    we are dealing with a fallen majesty. There are no formulas, no
    guidelines, but only experience, instinct and a contact with the divine.”

    George Nakashima believes in the beauty of lumber …. as do I. A table is a wonderful way to showcase the beauty of wood.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bill.wilde.16 Bill Wilde

    I also urge “The World” to follow up on this story. I also agree that it seems sheer idocy to cut-up such a rare and unique piece of nature

  • http://www.facebook.com/bill.wilde.16 Bill Wilde

    I also urge “The World” to follow up on this story. I also agree that it seems sheer idocy to cut-up such a rare and unique piece of nature