The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England.
Built in 3807 or 3806 BC along an earlier structure, the Post Track, it
was the oldest unearthed timber trackway in Northern Europe until the
2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London. It
extended close to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) across the now largely
drained marsh between what was then an island at Westhay and a ridge of
high ground at Shapwick. Various artefacts, including a jadeitite
ceremonial axe head, have been found along its length. Construction was
of crossed wooden poles, driven into the waterlogged soil to support a
walkway that consisted mainly of planks of oak, laid end-to-end. The
track was abandoned after 10 years of use, probably due to rising water
levels. Following its discovery in 1970, most of the track has been left
in its original location, with active conservation measures taken,
including a water pumping and distribution system to maintain the wood
in its damp condition. Some of the track is stored at the British Museum
and a reconstruction of a section was built at the Peat Moors Centre
near Glastonbury.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Track>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
763 BC:
The Eclipse of Bur-Sagale was observed in Assyria, the
earliest solar eclipse mentioned in historical sources that has been
successfully identified.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse>
1670:
The first stone of Malta's Fort Ricasoli was laid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ricasoli>
1896:
A 7.2 Ms earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Japan,
destroying about 9,000 homes and causing at least 22,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Sanriku_earthquake>
1920:
Three African American circus workers were lynched by a mob in
Duluth, Minnesota, a crime that shocked the country for having taken
place in the Northern United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Duluth_lynchings>
2001:
Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
logion:
1. (theology) A traditional saying of a religious leader.
2. (specifically, Christianity) A saying that is attributed to Jesus but
which is not in the Bible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/logion>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think it's already apparent that a good part of this Nation
understands — if only instinctively — that anything which seems to
suggest that God favors a political party or the establishment of a
state church, is wrong and dangerous. Way down deep the American people
are afraid of an entangling relationship between formal religions — or
whole bodies of religious belief — and government. Apart from
constitutional law and religious doctrine, there is a sense that tells
us it's wrong to presume to speak for God or to claim God's sanction of
our particular legislation and His rejection of all other positions.
Most of us are offended when we see religion being trivialized by its
appearance in political throw-away pamphlets. The American people need
no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know
that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman.
--Mario Cuomo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mario_Cuomo>