This Czech Well May Be the Worldâs Oldest Wooden Structure
Katherine J. Wu/Smithsonianmag.com
A 7,200-year-old oak-lined water well recently unearthed in eastern Europe may be the worldâs oldest known wooden structureâand to keep it from deteriorating further, archaeologists are now scrambling to preserve the vessel in a solution of sugar.
Discovered by construction workers on a strip of Czech motorway in 2018, the oak-based wellânewly described in the Journal of Archaeological Scienceâmeasures about four and a half feet deep and boasts a square base. Though the structureâs complete history has yet to be unraveled, the team behind the find suspects the well stayed intact because it spent several centuries underwater.
âWhen blessed by such conditionsâwetness and lack of oxygenâoak almost gets fossilized,â study co-author Jaroslav PeĆĄka tells Radio Prague Internationalâs Tom McEnchroe. âIt becomes very hard and durable.â
To pinpoint the wellâs origins, a team led by Michal RybnĂÄek analyzed the annual rings naturally found in tree trunks and their products. In conjunction with the radiocarbon dating of some nearby charcoal fragments, this method revealed that the well was likely constructed from oak trees cut down around 5255 B.C.
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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The Roman governor’s palace at Fishbourne has 2000 feet of elder log water piping, almost 2000 years old, that when uncovered, still flowed water from an unknown damned up spring. No substitute for good Engineering.
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