They Must Have had Boats!

 

They Must Have Had Boats!

The persistent belief is that Neolithic people had boats. Sheridan (below) and others, have confidently detailed where the maritime trade routes went between Europe and Britain. So, it must be right, mustn't it?

There follows the academic understanding of the evidence for water transport around British shorelines from:- "Ships and Boats:Prehistory to 1840 Introductions to Heritage Assets (Historic England)"

"Early Prehistoric (500,000-4000 BC)

Speculation about the development of water transport during the early prehistoric period is widespread, and some commentators have even suggested that the first boat, as opposed to a log ‘raft’, may have simply been a log hollowed out by disease.

It is believed that Palaeolithic watercraft in north-west Europe were most likely limited to the use of log or hide floats and/or rafts in inland waters, particularly as there is no evidence for the waterborne movement of peoples between the British landmass and continental Europe during pre-Holocene interglacial periods (that is, before about 10,000 BC).

Archaeological opinion remains divided as to whether seaworthy vessels would have been available before the Holocene. However, the separation of the British Isles from the north-west European peninsula at the end of the last glacial period, around 12-13,000 years ago, meant that contact across the English Channel and southern North Sea required some form of vessel: multiple-hide boats, perhaps similar to coracles, and basket boats are thought to have been capable of sea voyages at this time.

Although it is probable that dugout canoes were used by Mesolithic peoples as well as log rafts, log boats and bark boats, there is no direct evidence for them in Britain. With the exception of a birch-wood paddle recorded at Star Carr, North Yorkshire, a possible logboat found at Thurlestone, Devon, in the 1920s and a late Mesolithic/early Neolithic burial in a partially burnt dugout canoe found at Parkbury, St. Albans (Hertfordshire) in 1988, physical evidence for vessels in the early prehistoric period remains very scarce.

Late Prehistoric (4000-54 BC) Vessels traversing the western seaways were fundamental to the spread of Neolithic farming, funerary and other systems from the Continent during the early part of the late prehistoric period. In England, Neolithic dugout canoes are only known from Bexley, Greater London (discovered 1885), Jaywick, Essex (discovered 1936), Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire (discovered 1979) and East Rea, Peterborough (also discovered 1979), although it is not known whether these vessels would have been capable of offshore navigation.

However, the most far-reaching innovation in vessel construction at this time was the introduction of plank construction, whereby cut planks were fastened (in most cases, stitched) together to form a watertight hull.

Although the precise date of this innovation is not known, it has been suggested (although no examples have been found) that simple plank boats may have traversed inland waterways during the Neolithic. 

The earliest seagoing stitched boats yet discovered is a collection of three Middle Bronze Age vessels discovered at Ferriby, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in 1937 and the Dover Boat discovered in 1992, in addition to fragments from the Test Estuary near Southampton and Kilnsea in the Humber region: these are, in fact, the earliest vessels known worldwide.

The Ferriby craft is thought to have been around 16m long while that at Dover has a minimum length of 9.5m. Such vessels were probably too large to navigate in inland waters and, in the absence of smaller plank-built vessels, it is likely that dugout canoes were used inland. 

Two dugouts discovered in northern England (the Chetwynd boat, found in Shropshire in 1981, and the Shardlow boat, found in Derbyshire in 1998) may represent such craft. However, a 12m long flat-bottomed raft was discovered at Brigg, Lincolnshire, in 1888 which was clearly unsuitable for coastal passage having a freeboard (the distance between the waterline and the lowest point of a vessel where water could come onboard) of about only 0.3m.

The quantity of imported material discovered during archaeological investigation on land indicates the amount of cross-Channel trade taking place before the Roman conquest in 43 AD. The proximity of the Dover Boat to the designated Bronze Age artefact assemblage discovered offshore in Langdon Bay, off Kent, suggests crossChannel trade and contact at that time. 

Evidence from other designated underwater assemblages at Salcombe (including the only Bronze Age tin ingots found outside the eastern Mediterranean, and a bronze object from Sicily) and Moor Sands, Devon, presumably represents cargo from ocean going vessels, while finds from off Southend, Hayling Island and Bournemouth are indicative of complex trade routes having been established by the Bronze Age. 

As no evidence for the use of sails at this time has yet been discovered, it is assumed that propulsion was by punting (for rivers) or paddling; it is thought that the Dover Boat could accommodate at least 18 paddlers. A 2m long oak blade discovered at Canewdon, Essex, in 1983 showed no traces of having been used as an oar or steering oar, suggesting its use was most likely as a paddle.

The continued use of plank-built vessels into the Iron Age has not yet been proven. A dugout canoe constructed from a single oak tree but with a fitted transom (the vertical surface forming the stern of a vessel) was discovered in Poole, Dorset, 1964.

Here, the added transom demonstrates a method employed to extend a vessel’s length; now on display in Poole Museum, the vessel is thought to have been capable of carrying up to 18 people. The numerous Iron Age dugouts discovered throughout England in both coastal and inland locations, most recently in 2001 when two 7m-long oak dugouts were found in peat alongside the River Witham at Fiskerton, near Lincoln, suggests their widespread use at this time.

By the late Iron Age ships had evolved in northern Europe, and Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars evidences various ocean-going vessels. Describing fighting on the Atlantic coast in 56 BC, Caesar comments that the Gauls’ ships were rigged differently to Roman ones; that their exceptionally high bows and sterns fitted them for use in heavy seas; while oak hulls allowed them to withstand shock and rough usage. 

Significantly, Caesar remarks that some of these vessels’ timbers comprised beams a foot wide fastened with iron bolts ‘as thick as a man’s thumb.’ Sadly, the remains of such sturdy vessels are not yet known in England despite evidence of cross-Channel trade at places like Hengistbury Head, Dorset, since at least the Neolithic period"

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From National Trust, Northern Ireland:-

A Neolithic log boat at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland sits where it was abandoned in prehistory in the sands at Greyabbey Bay. It is probably the oldest dated boat in Britain. 

A sample of the wood from this vessel was radiocarbon-dated to between 3,499 and 3,032 BC

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The Ferriby Boats 

 

From:- New AMS radiocarbon dates for the North Ferriby boats-a contribution to dating prehistoric seafaring in northwestern Europe EDWARD V. WRIGHT, ROBERT E.M. HEDGES, ALEX BAYLISS & ROBERT VAN DE NOORT

"Introduction

The Ferriby boats (F1, F2 and F3) were discovered on the Humber foreshore between 1937 and 1963 (Wright &Wright 1939; Wright 1990; FIGURES1&2).

All three boats have been dated to the Bronze Age and are similar in design: planks are stitched together with yew withies, and systems of cleats with transverse timbers provide structural integrity to the hull, which was perhaps amplified by inserted frames. 

These craft, with other related British finds, constitute an unparalleled series that provides insight into the mechanisms of prehistoric transport. Previously, it was generally assumed that these boats were used predominantly for inland water transport, but a more recent assessment argued that the craft were used for long-distance exchange, including seafaring (Van de Noort et al. 1999). 

Sewn-plank boats are sofar unique to the coastal wafers of England and Wales, sharply contrasting with the distribution of log-boats of prehistoric date which concentrate around inland waterways. No prehistoric sewn-plank craft are known from the Continent, except for the much later Hjortspring canoe from Iron Age Denmark (Rosenberg 1937). 

When F1 and F2 were excavated in 1946, radiocarbon dating had not been discovered, and their conservation preceded the first attempts to date the boats by radiocarbon assay. F3 was discovered in 1963, but conserved without samples being removed for dating. The sample size required for conventional (radiometric) dating meant that uncontaminated short-lived material could not be obtained for each boat. Furthermore, the chemical processing that could be applied was constrained by the limited amount of wood available. The current dating programme was prompted by the concentration of the surviving timbers in Hull and East Riding Museum in the early 199os, facilitating the selection of short-lived samples from each boat for AMS dating. Further impetus to refine the chronology of these finds was provided by the discovery of the examples of sewn-plank boats from Caldicot, Dover, Goldcliff, and Kilnsea (McGrail 1997;Clark forthcoming; Bell et al. 2000;Van de Noort et al. 1999). "

F1; OxA-7457, OxA-9236-7 and OxA-9519-20. 1880-1680calBC

F2; OxA-7458 and OxA-9521-2. 1940-1720calAC

F3; OxA-9198-9 andOxA-9524. 2030-1780calBC

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The earliest dates for Human activity around Neolithic structures in Orkney are at the Knap of Howar,  on Papa Westray, 3500BC. Is there really any evidence to support significant sea travel across the Pentland Firth at that date?

This is one of a loosely attached group of blogs called the "Orkney Riddle".

The key blog to the group is the "Neolithic Immigrants to Britain" 

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk