Trenching work being carried out by the Manx Electricity Authority in the north of the Island opened a window on the Island's distant past.
The excavations for the new gas pipeline between Ramsey and Ballaugh has enabled experts to see and photograph a long section dug through peat and silt deposits which once formed a vast wetland area.
Dr Phillipa Tomlinson from Liverpool University and the Centre for Manx Studies, now working part-time with the Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture, expected to see bog oaks in the trench but was thrilled at what was revealed.
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