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World's Oldest Wooden Water Wells Discovered
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have discovered four wooden water wells in the Greater Leipzig region, Germany, which are believed to be the oldest known timber constructions in the world. A team of experts led by Willy Tegel and Dr. Dietrich Hakelberg from the Institute of Forest Growth of the University of Freiburg, Germany, uncovered the wells built during the early Neolithic period between the years 5206 and 5098 B.C." The (quite short) paper itself, and some cool pictures of the artifacts, are freely available.
Thus solving the mystery of neolithic web access.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
And I'm a tenured professor of composting.
May the Lincoln Log patent dispute begin in 3...2...1...
Neanderthal were still plentiful in Europe around 7K to 5K BC
The wells could have been built by the Neanderthals
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Sounds like you got to much spare time, don't you have any family to go to with Christmas and all?
So you typed all that in didn't you.
I had mod points but I'm going instead to tell you
this is slashdot. Slash! Period.
Just had a look at the photos and I'm convinced this is not a first time invention. This must be the result of a lot of previous attempts, just looking at how the wooden parts are connected: pin in hole, and another pin to prevent it from falling out again. That's technology that's still being used in wood construction.
Very likely these people were building wells and other wood constructions for quite some time already., this looks rather advanced It's just that wood doesn't preserve very well, so most will be lost by now., and we don't have any older and more primitive examples of such construction.
No surprise though that what is found is a well, as wells are of course rather like to fill up with dirt and end up under water, preserving the wood.
I never thought you guys would find that.
No matter. Every question they answer will simply lead to another question.
And how do they know for sure? Where they there?
Err, well.
Piss poor pictures at the link.
"The (quite short) paper itself..."
Big on data, small on bullshit = actual science.
the scientist out with the bathwater? I thought those issues were settled long ago. Finding a well, neat, dating the logs with carbondating, real neat, having a section of oak from then, really neat. Use of tools by an established culture, in a farm setting, is mainstay of agriulture. You gotta hqve tools to work the ground. period.You got to have tools period. to survive.Period.
After the abstract, i felt i had the wool pulled over my eyes, for some reason, why?
prior art against the company that makes Lincoln Logs. They better call their IP lawyers ASAP!
Obviously, they were there to dig up the wells, take pictures, take measurements, etc. I think you meant to ask, "Were they then?" rather than "Where they there?" Or, maybe you meant, "Where they then?" Dang, your grammar has me wondering what you really did mean to ask!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
TLDR
$sig not found
TFA doesn't explain how they built the well. Did they dig straight down and line the well as they went? Did they dig a large open pit and then backfill around the well lining? I'm very curious about this as both approaches have different risk/reward structures. I wonder if analysis of the surrounding soil could determine the method used (e.g., if soil is not stratified the same for a certain radius around the well as it is farther out it would suggest the "dig a large pit then backfill" method).
Says the guy trolling slashdot anonymously.
I have a question, Why use wood wells ?Wood, when flooding a long time, will it not be corrosion? And the well can not be used? Am I right? It is just my indissoluble question.