Eight bronze age boats surface at Fens creek in record find

Eight bronze age boats surface at Fens creek in record find
(guardian.co.uk)

An interesting article popped up recently on several bronze age boats uncovered in the UK dating to around 1600 BC.



If you're wondering how far you could sail in one of these or questioning their seaworthiness, check out the following link:

It didn't sink! Full-size, sewn-together replica of a Bronze Age boat launched to trials success
(independent.co.uk)

S+F. I hate it when these kinds of news stories pop up with a single crap quality image. I want high quality images, close ups, full scene etc. Damn if only I was in charge of photography there

I wish you were too
These the boats they supposedly carried the bluestone to the Hemge with?

I was reading about that yesterday

here is a short video about them -

Originally posted by stirling
I wish you were too

These the boats they supposedly carried the bluestone to the Hemge with?

edit on 5-6-2013 by stirling because: (no reason given)

There is a theory that the blue stones were carried there by glaciers.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer
That replica boat looks to have plenty of freeboard, perhaps a bigger boat could have carried a single stone and a couple of crew, being towed by another boat with full crew?

VERY cool!

I don't know much about boats, but I love reading finds like this one. People generally aren't aware of just how sophisticated these technologies are. In North America, a number of tribes created boats by sewing wood.

To me what makes these boats so fascinating is that they further corroborate the notion of trade and contact between Britain and continental Europe in the bronze age. It may well be on such boats that gold, tin, and bronze made their way into Europe, proven by the 'Nebra Sky Disk', which dates also to 1600 BC;

The Nebra sky disk is a bronze disk of around 30 cm diameter and a weight of 2.2 kg, with a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols. These are interpreted generally as a sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster interpreted as the Pleiades). Two golden arcs along the sides, marking the angle between the solstices, were added later. A final addition was another arc at the bottom surrounded with multiple strokes (of uncertain meaning, variously interpreted as a Solar Barge with numerous oars, as the Milky Way, or as a rainbow).

The disk is attributed to a site near Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, and associatively dated to c. 1600 BC. It has been associated with the Bronze Age Unetice culture.

According to an initial analysis of trace elements by x-ray fluorescence by E. Pernicka, then at the University of Freiberg, the copper originated at Bischofshofen in Austria, while the gold was thought to be from the Carpathian Mountains.[2] However a more recent analysis found that the gold was from the river Carnon in Cornwall.[3] The tin content of the bronze was also from Cornwall.

(The Nebra sky disk itself is an incredible artifact, and it's on these 'crude' boats that the ores were transported to Europe where it was fashioned)

ETA: here is a link about the bronze-age sea trade in ancient Britain;
2012 BC: Cornwall and the Sea in the Bronze Age exhibition

Originally posted by Byrd
VERY cool!

I don't know much about boats, but I love reading finds like this one. People generally aren't aware of just how sophisticated these technologies are. In North America, a number of tribes created boats by sewing wood.

Agreed. Simple, sophisticated, and gets the job done with intuition. The old technology worked, and from most all history I have seen so far -- was Earth friendly.

Around here people used to build wooden houses without metal nails, just wooden pegs and slotting wood to fit together like a puzzle. It makes for a great mobile home!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I saw this on the news yesterday and thought it was an incredible find ... 8 bronze age boats , that truly is an amazing find , the fact they were found in a quarry makes it even more incredible that they weren't destroyed by the machinery before they were discovered .

I've found a closeup of one of the boats which displays what the archaeologists believe is evidence of decoration .

Archaeologists from Cambridge Archaeological Unit worked in this brick quarry to excavate a section of the lost course of the River Nene and came across remarkably preserved items, including preserved eel traps, weapons, pottery and tools. These give an incredible window into what life was like during the Bronze Age some 3,500 years ago.
Most astonishing of all was the discovery of eight prehistoric log boats, most of which were in an incredible state of preservation due to the wetland nature of the area. Many were virtually intact and some have elaborate features including lifting handles, grooves for transom boards and evidence of decoration.
www.vivacity-peterborough.com...

Early carbon dating results have been released that show the boats are 200 years older than first thought putting them at about 1500 BC .

Eight Bronze Age boats discovered in a deep Cambridgeshire quarry are much older than it was first thought, carbon-dating research has revealed.

The vessels, found by archaeologists at Must Farm near Peterborough in 2011, have now been dated to about 1500 BC, 200 years older than was first thought.

Samples taken during the conservation process have revealed the boats to be made from oak, lime and field maple
www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by gortex


Rather than decoration, could those grooves be made by the hauling up of fishing nets cutting into the wood?

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


The archaeologists did find these fish traps at the dig site so I assume the boat men were placing these to catch fish , I can't see nets making those marks as they seem pretty consistent along the body of the boat .


To my eyes the marks appear to be quite uniform , I do get the impression that they were carved in for a reason perhaps decoration or perhaps some other significance.

I've found more on the dig and a picture that shows the scale of the large boat on Francis Pryr's website Here .

reply to post by gortex


Nice fishtrap - excellent preservation!

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by gortex

 

Nice fishtrap - excellent preservation!

Agreed, I can't tell the scale, but they look large. There are many fish traps around here made from rattan and the like, but they don't look to be so large (again, not sure on scale.) I have to find some pics or make one as a comparison.

reply to post by gortex


The fantastic condition of those woven fish/eel traps are amazing.

Over 3500 years ago they were left right where they were found, and looking at them, it's easy to imagine that they could have been left there only last week and buried with soil.

It's intriguing, well to me it is at least, wondering the circumstances of why these valuable boats and what must have been everyday objects, were left where they were.

It's not the astounding or the unexpected that ususally increases our knowledge of ancient peoples, although they have their place of course, but really, it's the minutia of life, the mundane, ordinary, daily experiences of their lives that are the most revealing...pretty much like us today.

Were they ambushed, their villiage and lands were attacked by an unknown foe? Did they all perish in such an attack, and the boats and baskets were never recovered and slowly filled with silt and dust over the years?

Or did they abandon the site because it was unproductive or lacking in some way? And just left for pastures greener?

This is the stuff that interests me, the artifacts are fantastic, but the reasons behind the why's and how's of their ended up as they did interests me more.

Thanks for posting the basket traps, great stuff.

Originally posted by gortex
reply to post by EnigmaAgent

 

The archaeologists did find these fish traps at the dig site so I assume the boat men were placing these to catch fish , I can't see nets making those marks as they seem pretty consistent along the body of the boat .

To my eyes the marks appear to be quite uniform , I do get the impression that they were carved in for a reason perhaps decoration or perhaps some other significance.

I've found more on the dig and a picture that shows the scale of the large boat on Francis Pryr's website Here .

The fish trap on the left is a modern type , still used in the area today to catch eels, placed for comparison.
Still very interesting nonetheless,
As the b log states the excavation of theses items is a work of art in itself.

Originally posted by Philippines

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by gortex

 

Nice fishtrap - excellent preservation!

Agreed, I can't tell the scale, but they look large. There are many fish traps around here made from rattan and the like, but they don't look to be so large (again, not sure on scale.) I have to find some pics or make one as a comparison.

You see..you've just brought up what could be a VERY interesting avenue of study.

If these fish traps are indeed larger (Or smaller) than the traps we still use to catch fish today, that could mean that the FISH back then were also larger.

You want to trap a large fish or eel? You'll need to use a larger trap.

It would be interesting to study the size of similar species of fish over the time from then and now and how our present environment could be affecting the growth or lack of growth, of all life.

The minutia, the little details are where it's at.

reply to post by gortex


Thank you for the link. That's more like how you should do reporting in such case as this. Gives far better overall idea of the signifigance of the find. Like how intact the boats actually are and how beatifully the detail has been preserved.