At this time, much of north-western Europe was covered by shallow lakes left behind by the melting glaciers.
Poor drainage and build up of dead plants created layer upon layer of peat.
Researchers estimate that nearly one-fifth of Ireland was covered by bogs.
so that cross these marshy lands, the ancient people built raised wooden roads or trackways.
These wooden trackways, unique to Europe, were built from the Neolithic times until the middle ages.
The trackway is a kilometer long and wide enough to fit a cart.
The terrain was dangerous and impassible for much of the year.
or early 147 B.C.
The Visitor Center containing the preserved section of the Corlea Trackway.
To construct this kilometer-long walkway, the wood of at least 300 large oak trees must have been felled.
This would amount to a thousand wagons loaded with oak.
Around the same amount of birch wood was used for the rails beneath.
Not all trackways were built to cross bogs.
Over the centuries, archeologists and peat harvesters have pulled out hundreds of bodies from peats across Europe.
A surrounding area of 4 hectares of intact raised bog with the trackway was left undisturbed in waterlogged conditions.
About 80 meters of buried trackway, leading to the visitor center was boarded over with modern boardwalk.
The preserved section of the Corlea Trackway inside the display hall.
Dendrochronological dates place the felling of the trees around 40BC.
The original was built in 3807 or 3806 BC to cross a marsh.
Photo credit:Geof Sheppard/Wikimedia
A replica of another neolithic trackway in Somerset, called Abbots Way.
It was built around 2000 BC.
The replica no longer exist, as it was washed away in a flood.
Photo credit:www.megalithic.co.uk
The Corlea Trackway.
Photo credit:Tommy Reynolds/Flickr
Sources:Wikipedia/www.megalithicireland.com/Old European Culture/www.ancientireland.org
