Monmouth

At http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/5000-year-old-fort-… …. it seems Monmouth is back in the archaeological news with another curious discovery. A while ago we had boats that were once being built and used on a former glacial lake and now we have the remains of a wooden building on stilts going back 5000 years ago – and also built on the former lake. The site is going to be turned into a housing estate and the archaeology is being done prior to that situation taking place. The wooden building was in effect an early example of a crannog – a fortified dwelling built on a lake, using wooden piles sunk into the lake bed (which is reminiscent of Swiss lake dwellings and therefore has a long pedigree on the continent). The timber was worked with a stone axe and was found during the digging out of house foundations, preserved beneath clay and peat of a lagoon situation which formed after the lake drained. Crannogs are known from fairly recent examples in Ireland and Scotland – but the idea could have been introduced by early farmers.