Dover Bronze Age Boat, Bronze Age vessel in Dover Museum, England
The Dover Bronze Age Boat is a Bronze Age watercraft housed at Dover Museum in England. A section of the roughly 9 meter (30 foot) hull rests in a climate-controlled case, where you can see how the ancient builders fastened the oak timbers.
Road workers digging near the shore in September 1992 uncovered the timbers buried 6 meters (20 feet) down. Researchers dated the planks to around 1500 BC, when the coastline lay in a different position.
The oak planks show how people rowed across the Channel to France and traded goods with communities on the other side. Yew strips were twisted into cord to bind the timbers together.
The museum keeps humidity levels steady so the old timber does not crack or warp. Displays also explain how archaeologists lifted and conserved the find.
Tests on the wood fibers revealed the boat was actually used rather than built for ceremony alone. Traces of repairs on some planks also suggest the crew mended it during voyages.
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