eburacum
Papo-furado
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
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A few years ago me and my missus went up to look at this ancient site, up on the North York Moors miles from anywhere;
Wade's Causeway
Despite what it says on the Wikipedia entry, there is some doubt about the Roman origin of this causewy. A noticeboard at the site says the origin is uncertain, and the causeway itself is made of quite large rough stone (some of the boulders included in the causeway would have made driving a cart or chariot along it practically impossible).
But most interesting of all was a discussion we has with a lone archaeologist who was workin the site. He said to us, "If this road was built by Romans they were the tidiest Romans I've ever heard of."
He explained that he was looking for dating artifacts along the causeway; on any other road, the Roman builders would have dropped artifacts- coins, little holy statues, horse equipment, cracked pots- but here, nothing. He reckoned it was much older than the Romans, and was possibly Neolithic.
I haven't found much mention of this theory on the net- only here, on this page
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/sit ... _well.html
Anyone else have any info on this? If we can find some references, I would suggest that the Wikipedia entry at the very least could be amended accordingly.
Wade's Causeway
Despite what it says on the Wikipedia entry, there is some doubt about the Roman origin of this causewy. A noticeboard at the site says the origin is uncertain, and the causeway itself is made of quite large rough stone (some of the boulders included in the causeway would have made driving a cart or chariot along it practically impossible).
But most interesting of all was a discussion we has with a lone archaeologist who was workin the site. He said to us, "If this road was built by Romans they were the tidiest Romans I've ever heard of."
He explained that he was looking for dating artifacts along the causeway; on any other road, the Roman builders would have dropped artifacts- coins, little holy statues, horse equipment, cracked pots- but here, nothing. He reckoned it was much older than the Romans, and was possibly Neolithic.
I haven't found much mention of this theory on the net- only here, on this page
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/sit ... _well.html
the well is situated beside the route of Wades Causeway the 'Roman road' (aka The Old Wifes Way) which has recently be a source of some speculation as to whether parts of the causeway pre date the roman road, one eminent archaeo has gone so far as to suggest that the section of the causeway that runs across Wheeldale may in fact be a Neolithic linear monument.
Anyone else have any info on this? If we can find some references, I would suggest that the Wikipedia entry at the very least could be amended accordingly.