Excavation of Bronze Age Wheel at Must Farm, with hub clearly visible (© Cambridge Archaeological Unit)
Archaeologists in the U.K. have discovered a 3,000-year-old wheel, a find which broadens understanding of life in Bronze Age Britain.
The wooden wheel was unearthed at the Must Farm archaeological site in Cambridgeshire.
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The wheel, which is thought to date from 1100-800 B.C., is 3.2 feet in diameter and so well preserved that it still contains its hub. “The find is unprecedented in terms of size and completeness,” explained Historic England, in a statement on its website.
“This remarkable but fragile wooden wheel is the earliest complete example ever found in Britain,” said Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, in the statement.
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The wheel is the latest find on an ancient site that comprises large wooden round houses built on stilts that plunged into a river after a fire 3,000 years ago.
"The discovery of the wheel demonstrates the inhabitants of this watery landscapes links to the dryland beyond the river,” said David Gibson, archaeological manager at the Cambridge Archaeological Unit in the University of Cambridge’s Division of Archaeology.
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