Site Event/Activity record ECH5629 - Chance find in Cholmondeley Park

Long piece of worked timber, possibly oak, found during an ecological survey on the northern side of a small island in the south western corner of Deer Park mere. The timber, clearly worked, was submerged in the margins of a reed bed and was approximately 7 foot long and 18 inches wide (1). The timber lay in shallow water and was not in sediment. The timber was c.2.54m long and at its widest end was 0.38m wide. The widest end was also the thickest part and had been shaped to a blunt point with a near horizontal ‘upper’ surface. This area of the timber showed possible evidence of tool marks and a possible peg hole was visible on one side. c.0.48m behind the ‘point’ of the timber was a clear cut step, with a concave break of slope at the base, which considerably thinned the timber to c.0.1 -0.15m. This was clearly anthropogenic in origin. The timber had a gentle taper for half its length (from 0.34m to 0.33m) before tapering sharply. The opposing end was very irregular, but seemed to indicate that the thickness of the timber may have increased in a similar fashion to the other end (2). Cursory examination suggests that this may be the remains of a log boat. The boat may have been washed from deposits in or fringing the mere during the very wet weather of 2012-3 and washed to its present location (2). A sample was submitted to the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre for radiocarbon dating. The tree from which the object was made died in c. cal AD 1040–1220. It was considered that the submission of further samples for dating would not improve the precision of the estimate for the death of the tree because the actual age falls on a mini-plateau on the radiocarbon calibration curve (3).