Somerset Levels Project
In 1964, archaeologist John Coles from the University of Cambridge began a research project that resulted in the publication of an important series of papers on many aspects of the Levels. A range of archaeological projects, such as the exploration of various trackways from the 3rd and 1st millennia BC and the establishment of their economic and geographic significance, was funded by various donors including English Heritage. Possibly the project's most significant excavation was of the Sweet Track in 1970, during which a Jadeite axe was discovered. Eight radiocarbon determinations of the date of the axe place it at around 3200 BC.
The work of John Coles and the Somerset Levels Project was recognised in 1996 when they won the ICI Award for the best archaeological project offering a major contribution to knowledge, and in 2006 with the award of the European Archaeological Heritage Prize.
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