From King's Lynn Today

4,000-year-old Seahenge to rise again – but not until 2008

CONSERVATION work on the Seahenge wooden circle is continuing apace – but it will be at least a year before the Bronze Age monument will be on display in Lynn.

The 4,000-year-old structure was uncovered by waves on the beach at Holme in 1998, sparking frenzied interest from the archaeological community.

In 1999 the pieces were excavated and preserved before they were handed to the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth for conservation, with the ultimate aim of putting them on display in Lynn.

The pieces chosen to go on display in Lynn Museum are currently being removed from a waxy substance called peg, which holds the wood fibres together.

Over the next two or three months they will be freeze-dried to remove any remaining water, before they are cleaned by experts and transported to Lynn Museum.

Robin Hanley, area museums manager for West Norfolk, said staff will spend the following six months painstakingly creating mounts and supports for the individual pieces.

He said: "It is a slow and complicated process, and one which there is no value in rushing."

Work on creating the Seahenge display will not begin until work on The Story of West Norfolk display is complete.
Half the museum will be closed after Christmas, and work carried out on the historical journey from the Iron Age to present day.
It is expected to be complete by September.

When the display is up and running the other half of the museum will close, allowing work to begin on the Seahenge display.
Mr Hanley said: "We hope to be able to allow people to see work on the Seahenge display going on for themselves."
The display will also include audio tours of the gallery and animations illustrating the process of landscape change, which have been funded by a £65,000 of Government money.

He said: "We hope it will be open to the public by the start of January 2008, but we have to be flexible with the timing."

alex.hoad@lynnnews.co.uk
13 December 2006

[From EDP24 News] Relic linked to Seahenge CHRIS BISHOP 13 August 2004 08:00

The carved figure which may hold clues to Seahenge:

A simple carved wooden figure could hold the key to an amazing new theory about the true meaning of Norfolk's Seahenge site.

Scientists have carbon-dated the relic, found in the Thames Estuary in 1912, and discovered that it dates back to the same period as the older of Norfolk's two timber circles.

Archaeologists now believe instead of being composed of plain wooden posts, parts of a Bronze Age timber circle found close to the site of Seahenge could have been decorated with carvings resembling native American totem poles.

The revelation comes as an archaeological journal sheds new light on the discoveries at Holme Beach, near Hunstanton.

The carved figure dates back to 2200BC, close to the period when Seahenge was built.

It is believed to be the earliest representation of the human figure in existence.

Yesterday Marie Taylor, marketing officer at Colchester Castle Museum where the idol is kept, said: “You can make a safe speculation between the two things.

“Most of archaeology is speculation and piecing things together.”

Today British Archaeology magazine will reveal that a second timber circle, also found at Holme, dates back to 2400BC, pre-dating Seahenge by hundreds of years.

Parts of the relic, which consisted of a timber ring with two large logs in its centre, were swept away by last winter's storms.

It says the structure, which was almost certainly a burial mound, resembles similar circles found in the Netherlands.

Leading archaeologists predict there could be more discoveries at Holme.

Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology, said: “On Holme beach there could be a vast area of ancient landscape preserved under the dunes.”

Mark Brennand, who led the Seahenge excavation, said: “We may be looking at the very last elements of it and the rest's out to sea, or we may be looking at the beginnings of it to the landward side.”

There were angry protests as scientists began removing Seahenge's ancient timbers and central tree stump from the beach.

But archaeologists later said examination of the oak posts had shed new light on Bronze Age civilisation, showing society was more advanced 5000 years ago than had been previously thought.

Seahenge's timbers have been conserved at Flag Fen, near Peterborough. They are due to go on display at King's Lynn Museum next year.

[FROM: "The Times" - London. Thursday 2 December 1999]

BRONZE AGE OAK WERE FELLED IN APRIL, 2050BC

By Nigel Hawkes, Science Editor

A CEREMONIAL circle of oak posts found last year at Holme-next-the-Sea on the Norfolk coast was begun between April and June in 2O50BC, precise dating techniques have shown.

This is the first time an exact date has been put on a Bronze Age monument, built around the same time as Stonehenge.

At the centre of the circle was placed the stump of a huge oak, already 150 years old. It was dragged into place by ropes made of honeysuckle and formed the focus of the ceremonial site. The following year a circle of smaller oak posts was arranged around it.

By combining two dating methods, and using a statistical technique invented 200 years ago by Thomas Bayes, an obscure clergyman, British archaeologists have been able to pin down with precision the moment building began. "It is lovely to be able to get such an exact date for something built more than 4,000 years ago," said Alex Bayliss, of English Heritage, who worked with colleagues from Sheffield University and Queen's University, Belfast.

Tree-ring and radiocarbon dating were used, their results combined using the methods of Bayes, which have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years after half a century of neglect.

Tree-ring dating, or dendrchronology, relies on matching the varying widths of the seasonal growth rings in wood with a master record going back thousands of years. Ms Bayliss first compared the rings on the central stump with those on the outer posts and found that the posts were felled a year later - they had one extra ring. By pooling the results, she produced an average tree-ring profile for all the timber. She compared this profile with the records. The closest matches were for 2050BC, 2454BC and 2019BC.

Next samples of wood were taken from rings 20 years apart and carbon-dated. This showed that the tree had died between 2200BC and 2000BC. But the team already knew that the samples dated differed in age by 20 years. This made it possible to narrow down the possibilities.

Using a version of Baye's theorem, they combined the tree-ring and carbon dates and found that 2050BC was most consistent with the data.

The final touch was to examine the partial growth ring on the outside of the stump. This showed that the tree had fallen, or had been felled, between april and June.

- - - - - - - - -

THEORY OF CHANCE COMES OF AGE

THOMAS Bayes lived and died in relative obscurity, but 200 years later his method of statistical analysis is enjoying a new vogue (Nigel Hawkes writes). Bayes was the son of a nonconformist clergyman, and he went into the ministry, ending his life at the Presbyterian Chapel in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Born in 1702, he was educated privately, and in his lifetime gained a reputation as a mathematician. Bayes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1742, but he published little.

But after his death in 1761, Richard Price, a friend, found among his papers "Essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances". It was published by the Royal Society in 1763 and became the basis of a statistical technique, now called Bayesian estimation, for calculating how true a proportion is likely to be. Unlike classical statistics, it enables prior judgement to be factored into the equation.

His conclusions fell into disuse earlier this century, and Bayesians have always felt despised by orthodox statisticians because of their guesswork. However, now they are growing in numbers and confidence. Bayesian methods have been used in court cases, in analysing the results of drug trials, and in improving the service of banks.

(Thursday, July 8, 1999 Published at 17:17 GMT 18:17 UKSci/Tech BBC News)

Seahenge gives up its secrets

Timber circle was gateway to the after-life

A circle of waterlogged wooden posts found on a remote beach in Norfolk, England, is transforming our knowledge of Bronze Age culture 4,000 years ago.

The 55 posts, together with the up-turned stump of an oak tree in the middle, were ¸rst spotted on the beach at Holme, near Hunstanton, last November. They had become exposed after the peat dune covering them was swept away by winter storms.

Norfolk County Council’s Archaeological Unit identi¸ed the ¸nd as a Bronze Age timber circle dating from around 2000 BC - roughly contemporary with Stonehenge. Inevitably, the circle was dubbed Seahenge.

Left to rot

It is thought timber circles were used by prehistoric cultures to expose their dead to the elements, birds and wild animals - a practice called excarnation. The belief was that allowing the §esh to rot from the bones in the open air would liberate the dead person’s spirit.

The archaeologists say the ¸nd is unique in Britain, and the best preserved example in Europe. “This is the ¸rst time we’ve ever found a timber circle intact in Britain,” said Mark Brennand of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit.

“The sites of timber circles are not uncommon, but up to now all we have seen are the soil markings where the timbers once stood before they crumbled away.

“Here, the circle was built in water-logged ground so it’s never dried out and the timbers have been preserved,”

An upside-down world

What really excited the archaeologists was the discovery of the large inverted oak stump in the centre of the circle.

It is thought to have formed a sort of altar on which the bodies would have been placed to decay.“Other circle sites we have looked at had large pits in the centre but we had no idea what caused them because the stump itself had long disappeared,” said Mark Brennand. “Now we know what was there, we can go back and re-evaluate the sites.”

Dr Francis Pryor, President of the Council for British Archaeology, believes the symbolism of the upside-down oak tree is very important to understanding the Bronze Age mind.

“We often ¸nd everyday objects deliberately turned upside down at Bronze Age sites. The inverted oak is a very complex statement. It is the world turned upside down, just as death is an inversion of life.

“From a ritual point of view it symbolises taking objects out of this world and placing them in the next. We’re not absolutely sure what these people thought that next world was, but we think they envisaged a parallel world inhabited by their ancestors,” Dr Pryor said.

Edge of the unknown

Forty centuries ago Seahenge would have been further inland, rather than on the beach as it is now.

An excavation by the Norfolk Archaeology Unit suggests that the circle was originally constructed on swampy ground up to a kilometre from the sea, which the waves covered at a later date.

Dr Pryor believes the positioning of the timber circle is signi¸cant. He suggests that to Bronze Age man the obvious symbolism of the coastline as a divider between two worlds, land and sea, made it an appropriate place to mark the transition between this world and the next.

Other archaeologists disagree. They think the position of Bronze Age funerary sites was chosen simply to mark the borders of land held by the family or community.

Studies of the Seahenge timbers could help answer another historical puzzle. Excavations of Bronze Age burial sites have turned up a disproportionate number of male remains. This might be explained if the bodies of many women and children had been disposed of in timber circles like Seahenge and the body parts scattered.

Uncertain future

The archaeologists have to work fast to save Seahenge.

The circle is close to the low tide mark on the beach and could be destroyed by wave erosion now it has been exposed.

English Heritage, the UK Government agency responsible for ancient monuments, is also worried about the numbers of sightseers and souvenir hunters visiting the site.

To protect the fragile remains it was decided to remove the timbers and take them away for analysis and conservation. Once lifted, they would be transferred to Flag Fen, near Peterborough, an archaeological centre which specialises in the study of prehistoric timber.

But just a few timbers had been excavated when the archaeologists
hit a snag.

Not everyone wanted the circle moved.

Protestors, including self-styled druids and some local residents, launched a publicity campaign to obstruct the archaeologists’ plans, arguing that much of the importance of the circle lay in its location, and that it should not be moved.

The archaeologists have succeeded in getting a High Court injunction preventing some of the protestors approaching the site. The excavation work has been resumed and the transfer of the timbers to Flag Fen is expected to take two weeks.

Cleaned and preserved

Techniques similar to those used on Henry VIII’s warship the Mary Rose will preserve the ¸nger posts and the central, up-turned tree stump ‘altar’.

The posts will be submerged in water tanks to protect them from deterioration. Subsequent forensic work will then include a general examination of the timbers, a study of tool marks, dating of the wood and examination of the activities of prehistoric insects.

Clear tool marks could provide important information on early Bronze Age wood working and construction methods. It is the ¸rst time that well preserved tool marks from a complete early Bronze Age site will be studied in Britain.

After the timbers have been cleaned, examined and studied, it is hoped that Seahenge will be returned to a spot near its original site and go on public display.

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 Published at 15:26 GMT 16:26 UK [BBC News]

Seahenge removal on again

Seahenge as it might once have appeared

Attempts to move a Bronze Age monument are due to resume on Tuesday following a deal between archaeologists and protesters.

The circle of wooden posts - known as Seahenge - was found under a beach in north Norfolk and is thought to be more than 4,000 years old.

The structure consists of the upturned foot of an oak tree surrounded by an oval of 55 oak trunks.

It was uncovered last November by a local nature warden when the peat dune covering it was swept away.

Experts say the structure would have been erected at about the same time as Stonehenge and is one of the most exciting prehistoric ¸nds which have been made.

Danger of erosionThey say there is a serious risk of Seahenge being destroyed forever by coastal erosion if it is not moved.

English Heritage has decided it should be uprooted and moved to an archaeological centre near Peterborough.

But efforts to move the monument away from the site for restoration were halted two weeks ago after a number of demonstrations.

At their height, a group of 12 Druids and environmental campaigners sat on the centre of the historic structure to prevent English Heritage from moving it.

They argued that the sea had protected the site for thousands of years, and should be allowed to continue to do so.

But now the demonstrators appear to have accepted that Seahenge needs to be moved if it is to be protected.

[from the “Eastern Daily Press”, Norwich. Monday June 28 1999]

Report of bid to recruit Stonehenge demonstrators

PROTEST FEARS HOLD UP SEAHENGE DIG
By Jonathan Hartley

The controversial excavation of Norfolk’s latest archaeological ¸nd is set to be put on hold again. English Heritage had planned to resume its removal of the Bronze Age timber monument today.

But with protesters from across the country expected at Holme, near Hunstanton, excavation of the 4000-year-old Seahenge tree circle faces further delay.

Fears have been voiced that New’ Age travellers who clashed with police at Stonehenge last week are being encouraged to take part in a protest.

Hunstanton police’s Sgt Joe Callaghan said he had received information suggesting there will be some sort of demonstration today and that this is likely to stop the work.

He said he did not know how many protesters would turn up or types of groups that they would be representing.

“We’re not sending anyone down to keep people away,” he said. “We’re non-confrontational and we’ll react to whatever comes along. Everyone’s talking to each other but everyone’s disagreeing. “English Heritage don’t intend to dig now.”

English Heritage’s 60,000 excavation project stopped on June 15 when a group of druids occupied the site.

Since then no timbers have been removed, and a spokesman said yesterday the situation is now being reviewed on a daily basis. “If there’s any threat of disruption work won’t be carried out,” she said.

The British Druid Order yesterday distanced itself from the groups that had been causing trouble at Stonehenge and said it would only be supporting a peaceful protest.

Joint chief of the order Philip Shalicross said. ‘The people who broke down the fences at Stonehenge were not druids. “They come from a variety of places but weren’t interested in the summer solstice, spiritualism or druidry. “It would be a shame if people determined on confrontation turn up at Holme to cause trouble.”

Mr Shalicross has heard that someone went to Stonehenge to recruit people to
protest at Holme but he does not know how successful that has been.

Campaigner and druid Buster Nolan con¸rmed yesterday that a “peaceful protest picnic” will be held at the beach today. He will be handing out poems about the ancient monument.

[From: The "Eastern Daily Press" Norwich - Wednesday 25th May 1999]

'Timber circle will be taken up, preserved and returned close to where it was found"

SEAHENGE WILL STAY IN NORFOLK

The 4000-year-old Seahenge monument will have a permanent home in West Norfolk once it has been preserved - and work on removing the relic begins tomorrow. Last night English Heritage revealed that the internationally important discovery will go on display close to where it was uncovered by the tide at Holme, near Hunstanton.

Archaeologists will begin to remove the ancient timbers tomorrow morning and take them to Flag Fen Bronze age centre, near Peterborough for conservation. There had been fears that the circle would be snapped up by the British Museum or Norwich Castle Museum, divorcing it from its marine environment.

Despite this first cast-iron commitment to return the monument to West Norfolk, some residents remained angry that local people had been excluded from the decision-making process. Holme Parish Council chairman Geoff Needham said a public meeting staged tonight by English Heritage and Norfolk Archaeological Unit would now be little more than "lip service". "We thought they had called the meeting finally to listen to what we have got to say," said Mr. Needham.,

"Now it turns out they have already made up their minds There are a large number of local people who think the circle should not be touched".

But English Heritage chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens said: "Seahenge is one of the most exciting and enthralling archaeological discoveries in out time. The first priority is to safeguard it from the ravages of the sea and to ensure that a proper record of the timbers is made".

Techniques similar to those used on Henry VIIIs warship the Mary Rose will be used at Flag Fen to preserve the 55 finger posts and the central, up-turned treestump "altar". "When this work is complete the timbers will be returned to West Norfolk, by which time Norfolk curators, ourselves and other interested bodies will have decided on their care in a future home in Norfolk," added Sir Jocelyn.

An English Heritage spokesman said that it was impossible to know how long the conservation process will take until the timbers have been examined by experts at Flag Fen.

There must now be a debate about the best way to display Seahenge when it is preserved. It is unlikely to be set up in Holme as the village is too small to support large numbers of visitors.

The timber circle has become a magnet for New Age travellers and it has been suggested that it will be the scene of a Druid ceremony at next month's summer solstice. People have been seen playing music on the beach at Holme, where the monument is uncovered at low tide.

The solstice - second-most important event in the pagan calendar - takes place on June 21 and last night a Norfolk Druid said he was keen to hold a ceremony at the circle before it was moved. He confirmed that other Druid groups in the area had already paid homage at the circle.

"I have heard that various ceremonies have been going on down there," said North Walsham-based Druid bard Peter Toll. "I believe a Druid group from Essex has been active down there, but I've been waiting for more information from the archaeologists about the site's origin." "Before the circle is moved I would like to perform a ceremony there because I don't agree with it being transplanted to a dusty box in a museum. It should stay where it is."

Druid ceremonies involve giving peace to four quarters - the points of the compass representing earth, water, fire and air --and giving peace to the ancestors, he added. The ceremony would involve poetry and music.

Huge numbers of visitors to the site would disturb an important bird habitat and Site of Special Scientific Interest surrounding the henge'.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

This evening (Wednesday) the local TV news showed pictures of the timbers that make up the circle being carefully removed from the their water-logged site; it was a kinda poignant moment to watch . . . . and made me think about our forgotten ancestors who erected the circle all those generations ago . . .

Flag Fen, Cambridgeshire, is the foremost prehistoric site in England. Here was discovered, preserved in the peat, a complete Iron Age village built on a huge platform of timbers which once stood in the middle of a lake, together with what was a very important "religious" site. So at least the Norfolk "henge" is moving into good company...

ANCIENT SITE MAY HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS A PORTAL TO THE AFTERLIFE

By David Barrett

Human sacrifices may have been made to the gods during construction of Seahenge. Latest theories about the monument suggest it formed part of a widespread religious practice which regarded trees as sacred. The pallisade of 55 posts in an elliptical pattern may have stood up to l0ft high. English Heritage's chief archaeologist David Miles said each oak had been halved down its length and set with the bark on the outside. Inside the circle the surface had been tooled down to the raw wood. "You would have felt as if you were standing in a hollowed-out tree," he said. "And from the outside, the circle would have looked like a huge tree stump. "The timbers are hard up against each other forming a barrier, with the outside looking like a continuous circle of bark." Human sacrifice was practised at the time and could have formed part of the monument's construction or ceremony. Excavation may reveal body parts or other evidence of the circle's usage, Mr Miles said. The upside-down tree trunk could have been an altar for the dead, allowing the body to decay in the open air. This was believed by the ancients to speed the soul to an afterlife. "The upturned tree trunk is interesting because that's something you get in mythology, from the Middle East to the Lap religions in northern Scandinavia," said Mr Miles.

"The tree was seen as a route to the heavens and the underworld, so this was an evocative structure forming a symbolic tree which stood at the boundary of earth, sky and sea.

"In Anglo-Saxon and Viking mythology there was something called the `World Tree', an ash called `Ygdrasil' which supported the world and the heavens. "In Indo-European mythology there is the idea of the sacred oak. This monument is probably part of this complex mythical structure."

In 2000BC the circle was not in the sea but stood in a marshy landscape surrounded by freshwater channels - known to be important in prehistoric culture - while vegetation included alders and willows. "The circle was probably much more elaborate than we would dare to estimate," added Mr Miles. "It could have been decorated with skulls or artwork, but we have no evidence for that."

Response From SIR JOCELYN STEVENS

Thank you for your e-mail of 16 January. I do not think that the reports in the press have made clear that we commissioned the recording of this structure from the Norfolk Archaeology Unit at the cost of £9K. Not all the scientific tests have been completed and the date of the oak circle will not be known for another three months.

We are considering the possibility of preserving the circle but that option presents a number of difficulties not least because the timbers are submerged by the sea for up to 23 hours each day. The likelihood of being able to preserve the circle where it stands is remote and we can see little point in doing so. The second option is to lift the timbers, conserve them and re-erect the monument on terra firma at a suitable location, This would be a major operation which preliminary estimates of cost put at £500K.

For these reasons we currently think that a full recording exercise, before the timbers are left to the mercy of the waves, is the realistic option. Nevertheless, we are exploring the preservation options whilst we await the dating of the timbers.

I should also draw your attention to the fact that the foreshore at Hunstanton has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on account of the shelter and food it provides to large flocks of migratory birds. The premature publicity given to the discovery - which was not of our doing - has resulted in numbers of visitors attempting to wade out to the site and English Nature has expressed their deep concern to the Norfolk Archaeology Unit on account of disturbance caused to the birds. This will need to be taken into account in any future plans.

Yours sincerely
SIR JOCELYN STEVENS
Chairman
English Heritage"

From Philip Carr-Gomm

I wrote to Sir Jocelyn Stevens, and he told me that they would not be certain as to how to proceed until after they have carbon-dated it. Apparently there is a possibility it was built by local fishermen last century!

The Independent Newspaper
http://www.independent.co.uk/

Shifting sands yield 'Stonehenge of sea'
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Correspondent

It is one of the eeriest and most mysterious ancient monuments discovered in Britain.

A massive oak tree, stuck into the ground upside down with its great spread of roots pointing skywards, stands surrounded by a palisade-like circle of oak trunks. And it has just emerged from the sea.

A wooden relative of Stonehenge, thought to be some' sort of altar, it has been revealed by the shifting sands of Norfolk, where it had lain buried and preserved for thousands of years. A beachcomber alerted archaeologists, who started excavating in October.

The site, on the lonely coast at Holme-next-the-Sea near Hunstanton, is almost certainly ritual and probably to do with death. Within its oval ring of 54 posts is the inverted oak tree with its roots, "like a table with fingers", says Dr Francis Pryor, president of the Council for British Archaeology. He believe`s it is very likely to have been some form of altar.

The tree-temple - if that is what it is - has been uncovered by tidal erosion. It is thought to have been constructed in the early Bronze Age, between 2,000 and 1,200 BC, which would make it almost a contemporary of Stonehenge.

The site, says Dr Pryor, is the most extraordinary archaeological discovery he has ever seen and it must be preserved. "I was staggered when I first saw it," he said. "I had goosepimples. It really was like stepping back 4,000 years. It's unique. It is of enormous international importance."

But unless difficult decisions are taken soon about preserving it, it is likely to be destroyed by the action of the tides within two years. No decision can be made until the site is precisely dated. Carbon-dating of the wood is being carried out.

An excavation led by Mark Brennand of Norfolk County Council's Archaeology Unit suggests that the tree-temple was constructed on swampy ground some way inland, which the sea covered at a later date.

Mr Brennand believes the purpose of the site was probably excarnation - the practice of exposing the bodies of the dead so that the flesh rotted more quickly, thus, it was thought, speeding the spirit on its way to the afterlife. "I really do find it eerie, and profoundly moving," he said. "All the hard-bitten archaeologists who saw it out there felt the same. You're directly in the presence of the past at a very personal level."

Dr Pryor added that for our ancestors, oak was a special wood : "The inverted oak is not just utilitarian, a simple way of making; an altar. It is a very complex symbolic statement. Perhaps a little sinister. It is the world turned upside down."