There are some more wonderful photos from Ynyslas on the Wales Online web site:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/pictures-bronze-age-forest-revealed-6730477
One interesting feature is the clear evidence of sawing across some of the biggest trunks. So does this mean that our Neolithic or Bronze Age ancestors were in possession of metal saws or even chain saws? Nice thought! But don't get too excited......
These submerged forests have been used as a resource for the local community for many centuries, whenever they have been exposed. Some of the peat bed exposures actually have peat cuttings on them, showing that local people (maybe in the Middle Ages) used the foreshore for collecting their fuel. And they have also used the best tree trunks for timber -- well weathered and incredibly hard. There is a myth that some of the oak timber used in the wonderful roof of the nave in St David's Cathedral was collected from the submerged forest -- but I have never been able to verify that.
What!! A myth, you say, Brian, you have never been able to verify? One more for the collection, then.
ReplyDeleteMind you, it would be rather ironically fitting if the roof of the nave in St David's Cathedral WAS collected from the submerged forest. The Cathedral was famously built on boggy ground, was it not?
What was I saying a few days ago at Tywyn?
ReplyDeleteLooks like I might have to make that trip!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25865118
Like most myths, I heard it somewhere or read it somewhere, but can't remember where or when -- or how reliable my source might have been!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice little BBC report, Dave. Thanks!