A ‘REMARKABLE’ piece of carved wood discovered by chance, in Berkshire, is more than 6,000 years old – making it the oldest carved wood in Britain, experts say.

The decorative markings were made by Late Mesolithic (4640-4605 BC) people 2,000 years before Stonehenge was built and 4,500 years before the Romans came to Britain.

The metre-long piece of oak was discovered lying in peat during the construction of an outbuilding at a property in the village of Boxford in Berkshire.

Experts suggest the carving pre-dates by 500 years the only other known Mesolithic carved timber in Britain, discovered near Maerdy in Wales.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England said: “It’s remarkable that by doing routine building work a piece of modest-looking decorative wood turns out to be the oldest ever found in Britain.

“This exciting find has helped to shine new light on our distant past and we’re grateful to the landowner for recognising its significance.”

Its markings are believed to be similar to the body decoration on the Shigir Idol – a wooden sculpture found in the Ural mountains of Russia which, at 12,500 years old, is believed to be the oldest example of carved wood in the world.

The landowner, Derek Fawcett, a retired urological surgeon, said: “It was a rather surprising find at the bottom of a trench dug for foundations for a new building.

“It was clearly very old and appeared well preserved in peat. After hosing it down, we saw that it had markings that appeared unnatural and possibly man-made.

“I have been working with Historic England and the Boxford History Project since I found it, now over four years ago, while radiocarbon dating of the wood was carried out.”

Since its discovery in 2019, archaeologist Sarah Orr and Historic England have been working on finding out its history.

Derek Fawcett has donated the timber to the West Berkshire Museum in Newbury where it will eventually go on display.