Eight prehistoric boats surface at Fens creek in record bronze age find

[rpannier]

A fleet of eight prehistoric boats, including one almost nine metres long, has been discovered in a Cambridgeshire quarry on the outskirts of Peterborough.

The vessels, all deliberately sunk more than 3,000 years ago, are the largest group of bronze age boats ever found in the same UK site and most are startlingly well preserved. One is covered inside and out with decorative carving described by conservator Ian Panter as looking "as if they'd been playing noughts and crosses all over it". Another has handles carved from the oak tree trunk for lifting it out of the water. One still floated after 3,000 years and one has traces of fires lit on the wide flat deck on which the catch was evidently cooked.

Several had ancient repairs, including clay patches and an extra section shaped and pinned in where a branch was cut away. They were preserved by the waterlogged silt in the bed of a long-dried-up creek, a tributary of the river Nene, which buried them deep below the ground.

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jun/04/eight-prehistoric-boats-bronze-age

[Enthusiast]

1. Thank you, rpannier!

This sort of discovery blows my mind. Fascinating stuff!

[No Elephants]

2. Cool story. Thanks rpannier. I hope they tell us more as they study the boats and artifacts.

[formercia]

3. Whatever floats your Boat, or not.

:hi:

Interesting story.Perhaps they just became waterlogged and ceased to be useful.

[Divine Discontent]

4. cool yo!

always interesting reading about the past... thanks :)