The project is an experiment in archaeology and is due to be completed in January 2013. Working with expert archaeologists, we hope to reconstruct the type of boat that would have been used in prehistoric Britain. We will be using the technologies and tools available around 4000 years ago. This type of boat is called a sewn-plank boat. Nails had not yet been invented so the planks of wood that made up the boat were sewn together using yew withies. The boats were caulked (made watertight) with moss. This type of boat is unique to the British Isles and examples have been found from the Bristol Channel to the Humber. Our boat will be based on the most complete example found to date from North Ferriby on the Humber, and is around 4000 years old. The sewn-plank boats played an important role in connecting people in Britain, Europe and Ireland from c.2300BC, facilitating the early exchange of metals and expanding global social and trade networks. This project is a collaborative partnership between the Universities of Exeter and Southampton, Oxford Brookes University and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. The project is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under its Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme.
