Meare Heath Trackway
Meare Heath Track · Meare Heath Sweet Extension
Late Neolithic 3240 BCE·Late Neolithic Somerset Levels farmers·🇬🇧 Somerset, Somerset Levels, United Kingdom
About
About Meare Heath Trackway
Neolithic timber trackway at Meare Heath, the longest Neolithic timber structure in Britain (2 km preserved) and direct typological successor to the Sweet Track 700 m north: single-plank oak and hewn ash boards on transverse alder bearers dated 3240 BCE dendrochronology (Sweet is 3807 BCE). Excavated 1966-1987 by John Coles and Bryony Coles, the trackway crosses the raised bog between Meare and Westhay islands, linking Late Neolithic activity areas.
Unlike Sweet Track's raised walkway, Meare Heath uses staggered mortised bearers with pegged joints indicating sophisticated carpentry, but preservation is more fragmentary (peat cut). Dendro wiggle-match places felling winter 3240/3239 BCE, 560 years after Sweet, proving Somerset Levels trackway building was a 600-year tradition not single event.
Why it mattersLongest Neolithic timber structure in Britain; proves 600-yr Somerset trackway tradition bridging Sweet (3807) to Meare (3240).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why staggered pegged technique differs from Sweet
Theories
- 01Trackway as ritual vs functional island linkage
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3240 BCE (dendro) with use to 3000 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic 3240 BCE
- Culture
- Late Neolithic Somerset Levels farmers
- Builders
- Somerset Levels Neolithic communities
- Purpose
- Raised bog causeway linking Meare and Westhay islands
- Abandoned
- c.3000 BCE bog inundation
- Rediscovered
- 1966 John Coles excavation; 2019 Hibbert dendro wiggle-match
- Excavation
- Excavated
3240 BCE
Dendro felling winter 3240/3239 BCE
1966
Coles opens 2 km peat trackway
2019
Wiggle-match confirms 560 yr after Sweet
On the ground
Structures & features
51.1650° N · 2.8100° W · 4 m · 2 mapped features
Central Causeway Section
trackwayPegged oak plank deck on mortised alder bearer
51.1650° N · 2.8100° WMeare Island Terminus
habitationWestern terminus on Meare island Late Neolithic activity area
51.1630° N · 2.8250° W
Gallery