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The preserved boat in its special case in the boat gallery
at Dover Museum.
The Bronze Age Boat was discovered in 1992,
during excavation work associated with the building of the
new A20 road to the Eastern Docks
and the renewal of the sewer system. Initially a cross-section
of the boat was excavated and lifted from the hole but the
realisation of just how important an archaeological discover
it was led to further excavation of the boat. In the end the
whole of one end of the boat was raised and removed to special
treatment tanks to start the preservation process.
The timbers of the boat have been dated to
1550 BC, making it the world’s oldest sea-going boat. A total
of 9.5 metres of the boat has been recovered, which represents
at least half, but possibly as much as two thirds of the original.
The boat was made up of at least six oak timbers lashed together
with yew wood, with all the joints reinforced with a thin
lath of oak, covering moss pushed into the joint. The two
central planks are joined by the use of wedges pushed through
a central rail and a series of cleats.
The boat would have been capable of crossing
the channel carrying a substantial cargo of supplies, livestock
and passengers. It was propelled by at least eighteen paddlers.
Goods were also being traded across Britain and it is likely
the boat plied along the South Coast. A piece of shale from
Dorset was found in the boat, so she may have traded down
as far west as Cornwall, as well as across the Channel.
The preservation process on the boat took
nearly six years. During this time the Bronze Age Boat Trust
had been busily raising money to pay for a new gallery in
Dover Museum to display
the boat in. The preserved sections of the boat were returned
to Dover and a team of experts spent the next nine month reassembling
them on a specially-built adjustable cradle in the purpose
built gallery. The boat is in a case in which the environment
is carefully controlled to ensure the preservation of the
timbers. The new gallery was opened to the public in 1999.
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