Extremely rare Bronze Age wooden tool found in English trench
In a wetland on the south coast of England, archaeologists dug up one of the oldest and most complete wooden tools ever found in Britain, which is around 3500 years old
By Michael Marshall
23 October 2024
Archaeologists cleaning excess mud off the Bronze Age spade
Wessex Archaeology
A wooden spade from the Bronze Age has been unearthed by archaeologists in the UK. It is incredibly rare to find wooden artefacts preserved from so long ago.
The spade offers a glimpse into life during a time when people were increasingly farming crops and living in settled communities.
“It’s quite tangible,” says Ed Treasure at Wessex Archaeology in Salisbury, UK. “It’s quite an immediate connection with the past.”
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The spade was found in wetlands near Poole Harbour on the south coast of England, where Wessex Archaeology has been digging for several years. The Moors at Arne Coastal Change Project is working to restore coastal wetlands in the area, and the archaeologists are excavating to ensure that informative artefacts are not inadvertently lost.
The researchers were digging in ring gullies, circular trenches that may have originally surrounded shelters. In one of the ring gullies, they spotted the handle of the spade. “There was almost a moment of disbelief,” says Treasure, who was not there personally. “It was quite immediately apparent that it was a piece of worked wood.” The spade had been carved from a single piece of oak.
