Caulking of the Boatwright

This paper positively identifies a complex mix of not-so-native mosses that were used to caulk the hull of an Eastern Lake Constance region Log Boat.  The boat carbon dates to the Early Bronze Age, which for this region is really at the cusp of transitioning away from the old Beaker culture.  The mosses were packed tightly into the transom board as seen below.

(Dickson et al, 2013)

European logboats have continuity to the modern day.  The only real difference is that the massive oaks once available no longer exist, so modern logboats are much smaller than their sea going ancestors.  The paper just hit the net even though the abstract is dated 2013.

More on caulking sewn-plank and logboats [link] and [link]

Mosses Used for Caulking the Early Bronze Age Logboat from Degersee, Southern Germany  Dickson, Maier, Mainberger, Lecrivain (2013) [Link]

4,500 Logboat with Mixed Features? (Ireland)

This logboat was found in the Spring.  I thought I'd add this from the backpage to preface the next post. Apparently the Galway, Annaghkeen boat has some EBA carpentry techniques.

Annaghkeen Logboat (hybrid?) (Current Archaeology)

It's a "Logboat", but it's said to be cleated, and honestly the picture provided looks a bit shallow, of course the sides may have eroded.  The nature of the cleats isn't described or whether they were integral to the original log or added later.  I haven't been able to find how the cleats were arranged or their number.

The description of the carpentry (their description) almost sounds like it could be a hybrid or a refit.  Of course, the entire reason for building a plank boat might have been the lack of very girthy trees, which Ireland and Northern Europe had in abundance in the EBA.  It's probably a mistake to think that one people made logboats, liked Grooved folk, where others made plankers, like Beaker folk.  In reality, the construction technique was probably more dependent on it functional purpose, timber availability and school of the boatwright.

This one dates to 2,500 B.C.

[link]

Experiment with a sewn-plank boat - Morgawr

Here's a great experiment with constructing a life-size, Bronze Age boat.

A team of UK archaeologists and maritime historians started building this replica sewn-plank boat starting about two years ago. 

Fig. 3  Keel carvers (Van de Noort et al, 2014)

Figure 6.  Basic hand tools (Bronze)
Figure 3 also shows the carpenters  using a mallet and froe, so I imagine a more complete inventory of Copper/Bronze age tools were available.

Modern boats are built around frames and in later times, segmented by bulkheads.  The sewn-plank boats were built more like inside-out 'oak barrels', except with a large solid keel.  The authors admit mixing the inclusion of traditional boatwright framing into Morgawr's construction wasn't 100% true to how plank boats were originally constructed, but that was the whole point for building Morgawr, to better understand the purpose. 

Fig. 5 Keel plates with frame

Fig. 10, Cleat system

Fig. 13, Yew tie

This replica, is a beast at 5,500 lbs.  The paper linked show 18 oarmen and a coxswain.  I doubt double the number would be able to simply lift the boat, waist level.  Was a boat this heavy intended for the open sea?

Morgawr: an experimental Bronze Age-type sewn-plank craft based on the Ferriby boats (Van de Noort et al, 2014) [link]

This paper reports on the construction of a full-scale Bronze Age-type sewn-plank boat based on the Ferriby boats. The boat, which was named Morgawr, was constructed in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, England, during 2012 and the first months of 2013, as part of a larger exhibition in the museum. This paper provides the background and context of the project, describes the process of building the craft, and reflects in particular on differences between Morgawr and the ‘hypothetical reconstruction of a complete sewn-plank boat’ published in 1990 by Ted Wright and John Coates which formed the basis for this project.