(Courtesy The Museum of London and Pre-Construct Archaeology)
At the end of the last great Ice Age, some
12,000 years ago, glacial meltwaters surged
through an unspoiled wilderness, forming the flood plain
of the River Lea. However, the oldest evidence from the
Olympic Park comes from the Neolithic period (4000–2200
B.C.), when people began fairly extensive woodland-clearing for agriculture,
aided by flint axes. The team discovered one such ax, dated
to between 4000 and 3000 B.C., at the edge of a river channel, but
there was no evidence the ax had been used in antiquity. According
to Andrew Powell of Wessex Archaeology, the team working on the
post-excavation analysis of the Park's finds, its pristine condition and
riverside location hint at a possible ritual explanation. Had it been
deliberately placed in the water as an offering or votive deposit? "If
this is the case, we think it highlights the deep significance of the
river, and its valley, to prehistoric people drawn by the rich resources
of this watery environment," says Powell.
More London 2012: Archaeology and the Olympics
