3,000-Year-Old Wooden Wheel Found in Doomed Bronze-Age Town

A 3,000-year-old wooden wheel has been discovered in the remains of a prehistoric town that collapsed into a river in east England. Archaeologists said the Bronze Age wheel is the largest and best-preserved of its kind, dating back to1100-800 B.C.

Measuring about 3 feet (1 meter) across, and with its hub still intact, the wheel was unearthed during a dig at the Must Farm site in Peterborough, according to an announcement from Historic England, a heritage organization that is partly funding the excavation.

"This remarkable but fragile wooden wheel is the earliest complete example ever found in Britain," Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said in a statement. He added that the discovery expands the understanding of the technological sophistication of people living in the region 3,000 years ago. [More]