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Image caption, Historic England said the purpose of the markings on the wood is not known
By Ros Tappenden & PA Media
BBC South
A piece of decoratively carved wood found during a construction project has been declared the oldest in Britain.
The 6,000-year-old piece of oak, found in Boxford, Berkshire, is only the second wood carving to be found from the Mesolithic period.
It was discovered preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench.
The wood is being conserved by Historic England at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth, and will eventually go on display at West Berkshire Museum in Newbury.

Image caption, The timber was preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench that had been dug for foundations
Landowner Derek Fawcett has been working with Historic England and the Boxford History Project since finding the timber four years ago.
He said: "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."
The timber has been carbon dated to between 4640 BC and 4605 BC, making it around 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, and 500 years older than the only other known piece of carved Mesolithic timber, which was found near Maerdy in Rhondda Cynon Taf in 2012.
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