Archaeologists find 8,000 year old string

[ZDP-189]

8,000 year old piece of string Archaeologists have found a piece of string that is 8,000 years old.
The four-and-a-half inch long string was made from tough stems of honeysuckle, nettles or wild clematis twisted together.
Marine archaeologists discovered it when they found a flooded Stone Age settlement just off the coast of the Isle of Wight.
The team, led by Gary Momber of the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, cut small blocks of the sea floor out for analysis after seeing the wooded remains of the settlement by chance.
The string was buried in one of them. The find is remarkable because the fibres, made of organic matter, would usually decay quite quickly.
Now the results have been published in British Archaeology magazine whose editor Mike Pitts described it as a "fantastic find".
He said: "I don't think the average person realises what an important piece of technology string has been over the ages."

Anyone know any details of the plait or twist pattern?

Are there any archaeologists here that have access to the magazine who can find out?

[Ren]

Picture of what I presume is it over on http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...years-ago.html

[Inspector71]

Anyone know any details of the plait or twist pattern?

Are there any archaeologists here that have access to the magazine who can find out?

Haven't heard much about it so far. We haven't got the current issue yet. Will let you know when I'm up to speed... Which will be long after somebody more internet savvy than I

Here's the website of the finders... http://www.hwtma.org.uk/news/archive.htm

Fantastic page that link takes you to. hey need to work on their outreach stuff - Derek the Dredger doesn't sound like he's going to capture the imagination of many kids

[marcus2]

Did'nt have Woodlore stamped on it,did it?.

[Stuart Mitchell]

How long is it?

[mirage]

"It has only survived thanks to the huge floods that followed the melting of the ice caps that once covered much of Britain [8,000 years ago]."

Damn! String causes Global Warming.



mirage

[Mariusle]

Hmm.. string-theory suddenly gets a new aspect...