The Dover Bronze Age Boat

Preservation & Conservation

The boat was preserved in the ground by permanent waterlogging and by a covering of silt which excluded bacteria which would have destroyed it. Since removal from the ground it was kept in a waterlogged state for recording and a detailed study.

The boat was conserved at the laboratories of the Mary Rose Trust at Portsmouth, under the direction of English Heritage, who funded this part of the project.

The timbers were first strengthened by soaking in a soluble wax solution for just over a year before being freeze-dried in three batches. This process allows the boat to be displayed as a dry exhibit, and is a quicker and cheaper process than the alternative method which involves spraying the boat for up to ten years. After this freeze-drying was completed, the boat timbers were returned to Dover Museum, where the boat has been re-assembled under strict environmental conditions. The boat has been sealed inside its display case and is constantly monitored for the temperature and moisture content of its environment.

Research Programme

A team of around 30 experts and specialists from all over Britain have been studying the boat since its discovery, directed by Peter Clark of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust. By careful detective work, they hope to learn as much as possible about this remarkable discovery, both in terms of the place of the boat in the history of water transport and the people who built and used the vessel over 3,500 years ago.

Analysis of the timbers will allow us to understand what the boat looked like originally, though we must theorise about the missing elements of the vessel removed in antiquity. We can then calculate the capabilities of the boat - what cargoes could it carry, what seas could it ply and what crew would it need. We shall speculate on the way in which the boat was built and how its unique method of construction fits in with the history of boatbuilding.

At the same time, we shall study evidence for the environment in which the boat was abandoned; seeds, pollen, insects and molluscs recovered from soil samples taken during the excavation. This shall tell us about the nature of the landscape in which the boat was used : the position of the sea at Dover 3,000 years ago; was the boat abandoned in an unpopulated landscape or near to a contemporary settlement; were the raw materials for boat building available locally, or was the boat originally built elsewhere.

This detailed scientific work has already taught us a great deal, and the work will continue before the full story of the boat and the people who use it will become clear.