Seahenge, Norfolk: 4000 Year Old Bronze Age Circle
Seahenge is a 4,000 year old Bronze Age timber circle discovered in 1998 on Norfolk Holme beach.
Seahenge refers to a Bronze Age timber circle that was discovered on the beach at Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk.
The circle was originally built on the saltmarsh away from the sea and specialists estimate it to have been built of timbers dating from the spring of 2049 BC.
The site was uncovered in 1998 due to coastal erosion, revealing a circle of timber posts arranged in a circular pattern with an upturned oak tree stump at its centre.
With rising sea levels in later millennia, the sea advanced, and eventually sand began to cover the peat.
It would have originally been positioned in an area protected from the sea by sand dunes and mud flats.
This swampy area created a layer of peat which slowly covered the timbers, protecting them from decay.
The circle is 6.6m in diameter and comprises of 55 closely-fitted oak posts originally standing up to 3m in height.
It is thought to have been constructed by the people of the small farming communities who lived in wattle and daub round houses.
We can never be certain what its purpose was. It remains an incredible monument to the skill and beliefs of our Bronze Age ancestors.
One theory of use is that Seahenge was a mortuary enclosure for excarnation rather than a meeting-place, like a henge monument.
In view of the relatively small diameter of the post circle and its height and its "privacy" entrance, some have suggested it is a "sky burial" (excarnation).
However, there is no direct evidence for this.
Seahenge sparked considerable interest and controversy due to its age, the unusual inverted central stump, and the deliberate way in which the timbers were arranged.
The site was carefully excavated and studied by archaeologists, who also faced challenges in preserving the ancient wood.
The prospect of tourists visiting the beach to see the monument meanwhile brought criticism from local wildlife organisations such as the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, who noted how within the first three months of 1999, five thousand visitors had come to see the monument.
Tourist traffic disturbed feeding wader birds in Holme Dunes National Nature Reserve.
After excavation, Seahenge's timbers were initially preserved at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth.
Later, they were returned to Norfolk and are now displayed at Lynn Museum in King's Lynn.
The decision to move and preserve Seahenge generated debate about the ethics of relocating ancient monuments and archaeological finds.
When the excavators decided to physically remove the main timbers from the site, a wide variety of protesters turned up, along with police to ensure that they did not cause trouble for the excavators.
As the central tree stump was being pulled out by a digger, a young protester ran under the rope cordoning off the site and headed towards the excavation.
He was later restrained by excavators and then by police.
1999, when The Independent ran a front-page story by environmental correspondent, Michael McCarthy, headlined "Shifting sands reveal 'Stonehenge of the Sea'".
The Independent′s article sparked articles in rival newspapers, with the Eastern Daily Press picking up the story for a two-page feature entitled "Our Stonehenge Beneath the Sea" on Monday 11 January.
These stories repeated comparisons to Stonehenge, one of England's most famous national treasures, despite the many differences between the two sites.
Eventually, the site gained the popular title of "Seahenge".
One hundred metres east, another, much larger ring was found, consisting of two concentric timber circles surrounding a hurdle-lined pit containing two oak logs.
Known as Holme II, dendrochronology gives a date identical to Seahenge: 2049 BCE.
This is the first time that two adjacent prehistoric monuments have been shown to have been built together.
Details of the construction of Holme II differ from that of Holme I (Seahenge): for instance the palisade of Holme I had the tree bark intact, while it was removed for Holme II, giving the two enclosures contrasting dark and light colours.
One suggestion is that the upturned roots in Holme I were used for excoriation, while the remains were later buried in Holme II, which may have contained a burial mound extending to the inner timber circle which would have formed the revetment of the mound.
Reacting to the discovery on social media, someone said: “Its annoyed me that they've moved it. Its sacred.
”They wouldn't move Stone Henge. Things should be left where they're found like they were meant to be placed forever.”
However, another person argued that if it hadn’t been removed, it would’ve “rotted away.”
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