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Oldest Wooden Structure in the World Found in Czech Republic

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
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Oldest Wooden Structure in the World Found in Czech Republic

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.
A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.

A research team in the Czech Republic unearthed a box-like wooden structure used in the building of an old well.

The tree-ring dating technique has revealed that the oak wood used to make it was cut around 7,275 years ago. This makes it the oldest known wooden structure in the world, scientists say.

According to the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers used the tree rings and the radiocarbon dating techniques to determine the structure's age.

The age of a tree can be determined based on the rings or the annual growth layers of the trunk and roots' stems. It can be calculated by dividing the trunk's diameter by the tree's growth factor according to its type, and then multiplying the obtained result with the trunk's circumference. The final result would be the tree's age. Experts may also use the Radiocarbon dating technique known as "carbon-14 dating", which uses the radioactive properties of radiocarbon.

In a report published on the Science Alert website, Archaeologist Jaroslav Peška of the Archaeological Centre Olomouc in the Czech Republic, and the study's senior author said: "According to our findings, based particularly on dendrochronological data, we can say that the tree trunks for the wood used were felled in the year 5255 BCE. Some side wooden planks seemed a little bit younger."

The researchers suggested that the trees were felled 7,244 to 7,261 years ago, and the smaller planks were used in repairing the well at some point.

The well was unearthed and discovered near the town of Ostrov in 2018 during construction on the motorway in the Czech Republic.

Ceramic fragments found inside the well dated the site to the early Neolithic, but no evidence of any settlement structures were found nearby, suggesting the well serviced several settlements at a bit of a distance away.

The discovered structure consisted of four oak poles, one at each corner, with flat planks between them. The well was roughly square, measuring 80 by 80 centimeters (2.62 feet). It stood 140 centimeters tall (4.6 feet), with a shaft that extended below ground level and into the groundwater.

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How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
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How Alcatraz Became America’s Most Notorious Prison

One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)
One of three cell tiers of individual cells at the main block of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, March 15, 1956. (AP)

President Donald Trump wants to turn Alcatraz, a popular US tourist destination, into a federal prison again, more than 60 years after the California island fortress was shut down as too costly.

Trump says Alcatraz, now part of the National Park Service, suddenly is needed to house America’s “most ruthless and violent” criminals. It's where the government sent notorious gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly as well as lesser-known men who were considered too dangerous to lock up elsewhere.

“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump said Sunday on his Truth Social site.

What is Alcatraz? Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay off the coast of San Francisco and visible from the Golden Gate Bridge. It is best known for its years as a federal prison, from 1934-63, but its history is much longer.

President Millard Fillmore in 1850 declared the island for public purposes, according to the park service, and it soon became a military site. Confederates were housed there during the Civil War.

By the 1930s, the government decided that it needed a place to hold the worst criminals, and Alcatraz became the choice for a prison.

“A remote site was sought, one that would prohibit constant communication with the outside world by those confined within its walls,” the park service said. “Although land in Alaska was being considered, the availability of Alcatraz Island conveniently coincided with the government’s perceived need for a high security prison.”

Why did it close? The remoteness eventually made it impractical. Everything from food to fuel had to arrive by boat.

“The island had no source of fresh water,” according to the US Bureau of Prisons, “so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week.”

The cost to house someone there in 1959 was $10.10 a day compared with $3 at a federal prison in Atlanta, the government said. It was cheaper to build a new prison from scratch.

Why is Alcatraz notorious? Despite the location, many prisoners tried to get out: 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes into the bay, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the cold water and swift current.

“Escape from Alcatraz,” a 1979 movie starring Clint Eastwood, told the story of John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris, who all escaped in 1962, leaving behind handmade plaster heads with real hair in their beds to fool guards.

“For the 17 years we worked on the case, no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive, either in the US or overseas,” the FBI said.

A national park Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and was opened to the public in 1973, a decade after it was closed as a prison.

The park service says the island gets more than 1 million visitors a year who arrive by ferry. A ticket for an adult costs $47.95. Visitors can see the cells where prisoners were held.