Summary
Late Neolithic timber trackway and platform surviving as buried, waterlogged remains. Although very different in form, the monument shares some design features with Neolithic henges and appears to be a ritual rather than a utilitarian structure.
Reasons for Designation
Lindholme Neolithic timber trackway and platform, together with a surrounding area as mapped for the support and protection of the monument, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period, rarity, survival: as a very early, well preserved, and exceptionally rare survival of a Neolithic structure built from timber;
* Documentation, potential: archaeological research has revealed complex features of its design, including forced perspective, the monument having the potential to provide new insights into Neolithic life and ritual;
* Fragility: the long term survival of the monument is dependent on continuous waterlogging of the timber.
History
Exposed by mechanical peat cutting in the 1990s, the Lindholme Neolithic trackway and platform was first identified in 2004 and was investigated archaeologically in 2004-2006. Radiocarbon dated to 2900-2500 BC, this late Neolithic structure is the earliest identified example of corduroy construction known in Britain, slightly predating the scheduled Abbot’s Way trackway in the Somerset Levels, but later than other examples known in Holland and Germany. Corduroy trackways are formed with closely set roundwood timbers set perpendicular to the direction of travel, being similar in appearance to corduroy fabric.
The Lindholme Neolithic trackway and platform exhibits design features which clearly indicate that it was not intended as a utilitarian structure. Instead it has been suggested that it represents a form of ritual monument with characteristics similar to a henge. Typical henge monuments are circular platforms defined by deep encircling ditches and outer banks, the platform linked by one or more causeways across the ditch, usually tapering by getting narrower as they approach the central platform. The platform is roughly rectangular, and is thought to have been approximately 5m by 13m, being surrounded by water or marsh in the Neolithic. It is approached from what would have been dry land to the south by a 45m long trackway which gradually narrows from around 3m wide at its southern end, to about 1m wide at the platform. The diameters of the poles forming the surface of the track also reduce northwards from around 0.13m diameter to less than 0.04m. Both of these characteristics would have created the optical illusion, forced perspective, to make the trackway appear longer and the platform more distant than it was in reality. A further indication that the trackway was not merely a utilitarian structure to provide access to the platform, is that a shorter route to dry land would have been to the east, only 25m distant, rather than 45m southwards. In addition the trackway approaching from the south clearly kinked slightly out to the east to avoid a small area of dryer ground within the marsh which would have been easier to cross than the route selected. At the junction between the trackway and the platform a threshold was identified during the excavation, formed by two distinct bands made up of birch bark which would have been a very visible feature: starkly white against the dull browns of the rest of the structure and surroundings. A third similar band of birch bark was also identified about a third of the way along the trackway from the south, approximately halfway between the southern landfall and the kink in the route. The dry land to the east of the trackway is considered to have formed part of the overall monument, providing a vantage point for spectators observing events on the platform in a similar way to the speculated use of the outer banks of henges.
Analysis of pollen, beetle and other fossilised remains taken as samples during the archaeological investigations have provided an insight into the changing environment of Hatfield Moor in the Neolithic. This indicates that there was a change from the mosaic of woodland, heath and small ponds which characterised the environment in the Mesolithic, to an increasingly wet environment of expanding peat mire causing the total loss of tree cover. The condition of the timbers in the structure suggests that it was inundated and preserved in the expanding peat within a few years of its construction. No small finds such as flint flakes, bone points or other items often found associated with hunting sites were found during the investigations suggesting the platform was not used for hunting game or fishing.
Following the archaeological investigations, which only sampled the remains and left most of the timberwork and associated deposits undisturbed, the site was reburied and re-wetted, being surrounded by a sheet piled enclosure and an earthwork bund, water being directed into the enclosure from a drain on higher ground. In 2009, archaeological sampling confirmed that the waterlogging of the site helped by this enclosure was being effective at preserving the timbers of the trackway and platform.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: late Neolithic timber trackway and platform with associated deposits surviving as buried remains.
DESCRIPTION: the monument lies within the raised wetland mire of Hatfield Moor and includes the raised earthwork bund constructed in 2006 designed to keep the site waterlogged.
The trackway is about 45m long, appearing to be entirely constructed of Scots Pine, the track surface being formed with closely spaced pieces of roundwood laid perpendicular to the direction of travel, supported by pairs of rails orientated with the trackway. The rails ranged between119/128mm and 26/38mm in diameter, the timbers of the track surface being generally thicker (34/39mm and 70/75mm in diameter) with thicknesses generally reducing northwards along the trackway, the trackway consistently narrowing from about 3.1m wide at the southern end to about 1m before reaching the platform. In some places the rails are held in place by roughly shaped pegs, also of Scots Pine, displaying cut marks characteristic of stone tools. About a third of the way along the trackway, in place of one or two timbers, a band formed with birch bark was identified during the excavation, two further bands marking the threshold with the platform. Around two thirds of the way northwards, the trackway makes a slight but clear kink to the east to avoid a slight rise in the basal sands: an area that would have formed a slightly dryer island in the wetland at the time of the trackway’s construction.
The platform is of similar corduroy construction to the trackway, but includes brushwood and tree stumps in addition to roundwood rails in supporting the surface. The platform is set at an angle of about 45 degrees to the trackway. Truncated by peat extraction to about 10m by 5m, it is estimated to have measured at least 10m by 13m originally.
Following the archaeological investigations, the platform and trackway were reburied and surrounded by a plastic sheet-piled enclosure and an earthwork bund designed to preserve the structure via waterlogging.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: this is focused on the in situ remains of the trackway and platform within the bunded enclosure, together with an additional 50m margin to include the area of higher basal sands to the east that would have formed dry ground in the Neolithic, an area considered to have a potential for further archaeological deposits associated with the site. This additional margin is also provided for the support and protection of the trackway and platform within the bunded enclosure.
There are no exclusions. Although the sheet piling, earthwork bund and associated pipework were all installed after the archaeological investigations in 2004, these features are designed to preserve the monument and are thus included in the scheduling.
