Secret forest buried beneath sand uncovered | Daily News

Secret forest buried beneath sand uncovered

A 7,000-year-old secret woodland has been unearthed after extreme weather battered the UK.

The ancient forest was uncovered as the ‘Beast from the East’ struck and shifted the sands, just south of Hartlepool in Redcar, Cleveland.

Historic tree stumps and felled logs can now clearly be seen on the shore, but only a stretch of around 400m has emerged.

The rest of the forest, which runs for several miles along the coastline, remains hidden. Hartlepool lifeboatman Garry Waugh, who has lived in the area all his life, said: “I last saw the forest when I was ten-years-old.

“That was around 40-years-ago.”

He continued: “There was a school trip and we were taken down to see it, I remember being memorised. It’s amazing that this has appeared again. I think it must be because of the weather. The rough seas will have scooped out the sand and the wind will have blown it away.”

It is thought the woodland, known as a petrified forest, was first noticed in 1871, and the bones of deer and wild boar have been discovered there. Flint tools and other implements have also been found, suggesting that humans once lived and hunted among the oak, beech, birch and sycamore trees.

The forest existed in the late Mesolithic period, which was a time of hunting and gathering for humans.

It is referred to as a ‘petrified’ forest as over the years the vegetation has completely turned to stone.

Mirror


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