The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England.
It was built in 3807 or 3806 BC and has been claimed to be the oldest
road in the world. It is now known that the Sweet Track was largely
built over the course of an earlier structure, the Post Track. The track
extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay,
although much of the marsh has now been drained, and a ridge of high
ground at Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). The
track is one of a network that once crossed the Somerset Levels.
Construction was of crossed wooden poles which were driven into the
waterlogged soil to support a walkway that consisted mainly of planks of
oak, laid end-to-end. The track was only used for a period of around 10
years and was then abandoned, 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:
1839:
Qing government official Lin Zexu catalysed the First Opium War
after ordering the destruction of nearly 1.2 million kg (2.6 million
lbs) of opium in Humen, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu>
1937:
Nearly six months after Edward, Duke of Windsor, abdicated the
British throne, he married American socialite Wallis Simpson in a
private ceremony near Tours, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson>
1943:
Off-duty US sailors fought with Mexican American youths in Los
Angeles, spawning the Zoot Suit Riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots>
1968:
American artist Andy Warhol and two others were shot and
wounded at his New York City studio "The Factory" by radical feminist
Valerie Solanas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol>
1973:
At the Paris Air Show, a Tupolev Tu-144 broke up in mid-flight
and disintegrated, killing the six members of the crew and eight
bystanders on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Paris_Air_Show_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
guardian angel:
A spirit believed to protect and to guide a particular person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/guardian_angel>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the
truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be
something more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It
might be crazy to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has
been part of our tradition for most of our history — free culture. If
this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon.
--Lawrence Lessig
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig>
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