ARCHAEOLOGISTS are battling against the force of the North Sea to excavate historically important ancient timbers.

The waterlogged remains of a series of large timbers were uncovered at Staithes Beck, in North Yorkshire, following the flooding crisis of November 2000.

Experts from Britain's deepest mine have joined the painstaking operation to save the remains, which are thought to date back to the early Bronze Age.

Workers on the hugely complex archaeological dig are facing a challenging task because of the tidal location of the discovery.

As a result, Cleveland Potash, which owns Boulby mine, north of Staithes, has agreed to supply crucial equipment for the work.

This includes a scaffold installation to allow archaeologists to work on logs without damaging the timbers, sand bags to protect the timbers during high tide and a low-pressure jetting device to clean the timbers of mud.

Graham Lee, archaeologist at the North York Moors National Park Authority, said: "This is very exciting and could be unique archaeologically. The platform appears to consist of complete tree trunks, surrounded by the remains of smaller timbers.

"The size of the main timbers suggests that they represent a substantial platform on which the north-western side of the beck appears to have been developed. Interpretation is difficult as no similar structures are known nationally.

"It is considered that the site probably represents some form of working or living platform, or perhaps a dock, but the use of complete tree trunks to construct such a structure appears to be previously unknown."

Mr Lee added: "Radiocarbon dating has revealed that the timbers are approximately 3,500 years old.

The platform appears, therefore, to be only some 450 years younger than "Seahenge", the now famous timber circle from the north Norfolk coast, making it especially intriguing."