Peat diggers turn up part of primeval wood in Friesland

Digging work for a new lake has turned up hundreds of ancient tree trunks and branches near Oudega in Friesland, part of a primeval forest dating back 6000 years.

Locals knew about the wood but nothing was known about how much there was or how old it was, according to Jos Bazelmans of the government cultural heritage organisation RCE, which was called in to investigate the site.

The large-scale removal of peat is no longer common in the Netherlands, providing researchers a rare chance to do some scientific digging of their own, Bazelmans told Omrop Fryslân.

Samples taken from the trunks that were sent for analysis to determine their age were shown to be between 4000 and 6000 years old. Dendrological techniques can even determine the exact age of the tree, with one of the samples dating back to 3729 BC.

According to Bazelmans, the primeval forest was “not affected by human activity”, implying few people lived in the area at the time.  

The wood is thought to comprise a 90-hectare area. ‘We expect to take samples from over a thousand trees over a period of two to three years, Bazelmans said.

The RCA has until the end of 2027, when work on the lake will be completed, to investigate the site.