The advantage of a wetland such as the Levels is that it contains within its peats not only the wooden elements of trackways, platforms and other structures, including houses, but also the record of the woodlands growing in and around the area. Due to extensive peat formation over 5,000 years (4,500 BC - AD 500), the peat bogs buried hundreds of ancient structures, and because the area is low and flat, silts and clays have also helped seal many sites from decay (Coles and Coles 1986). The Somerset Levels are an area where conditions for the preservation of the environmental and cultural records allow some degree of generalisation about prehistoric woodlands and woodworking. In this paper, one area where preservation has been exceptionally good will be used to show the character and quality of evidence that can survive, and this will be used as a guide to the woods used in the construction of ancient buildings. Nevertheless, there are important reasons why archaeological sites and regions containing abundant preserved wood can be used in the construction of a general assessment of ancient woodlands and wood technology, so long as care is taken in utilising the results. It is, of course, important to remember that the woods available and used in certain areas, where they have survived, may not be exactly comparable to those of other areas where survival is poor, and care is thus needed in extrapolation of results.
Where ancient wood has been maintained in a good condition, archaeologists have an obligation to extract as much useful information as possible, as their results may be relevant to other archaeological situations where conditions of preservation are not as good. The raw material most consistently and abundantly used in ancient times, and in fact into the 20th century in some areas of the world, has not often been preserved for detailed study, and even where traces survive, their quality may be unsuitable for scientific research. In efforts to understand how ancient people obtained supplies of wood for their houses, barns, fences and other equipment, archaeologists often have to rely upon a record that has barely survived time‘s arrow of destruction.
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