Ritual Causeway and Platform

Excavations revealed details of the wooden platform and a post alignment of rows of upright posts that stretch for nearly a kilometre across the fen.

These were built up between 1350 and 950BC. Because of the waterlogged nature of the Fens, this monument has been remarkably preserved. It is a unique monument of national and international significance. Its survival is constantly threatened by drainage and development.

It is believed that the post alignment or ritual causeway consists of 60,000 vertical timber and 250.000 other horizontal pieces of wood. All of them have been worked and shaped with tools; it spans the wet and marshy fen meeting a droveway on dry ground at each end. Could it have been created as a bridge to drive cattle across the fen?

Over 400 years, the causeway was added to and developed from two rows of posts and a walkway, to five rows of posts with a wattle fence to its northern side. This causeway effectively cut off the northern edge of the ‘fen basin’ – a large area of wetland. People gave many thousands of hours to build this structure. Could it have been a boundary and defensive structure protecting the valuable resources of the fen?

Excavations on both the causeway and the platform have shown signs of partitions, or walls within the structure. One early interpretation was that this could be a lake village. Analysis of soil samples, however, showed that no-one lived on the structure – there were none of the insects associated with houses.

Within the structure, many hundreds of metal, stone and bone artefacts have been found. Some fixed in place between the wood, these items have not been lost – they have been deliberately placed. Equally, they have not been found in a hoard hidden away for safety. Furthermore, excavations have uncovered large amounts of animal bone (sheep, cows, pigs) showing signs of butchery – was feasting taking place here? In addition, skeletons of dogs have been found within the monument.