The Dover Bronze Age Boat

In 1996, a reconstruction of a cross section of the Dover Bronze Age Boat was carried out to demonstrate how the boat would have originally been built.

The team worked with replica bronze tools, wooden wedges and mauls. All the work was recorded to give information which can be used to study how the boat would have been built : the time it took each section of work to be done, the effectiveness of the bronze and wooden tools.

The reconstruction boat was built from halved tree-trunks, with the shape of the boat being formed by either splitting off large sections of wood with wooden wedges or by cutting off wood with bronze axes.

In comparison to the original boat, the marks left by the bronze axes on the reconstruction show a smoother finish, suggesting that the original boat was built quickly, with little consideration of fine finish.

The section of the boat is in four parts : two forming the bottom of the boat, and two curved pieces to form the beginnings of the side of the boat.

To hold the bottom planks together transverse timbers are put through the cleats in the planks. The joins are packed with moss to form a good seal.

The reconstructed section of the boat is on display in the Dover Bronze Age Boat Gallery at Dover Museum.

From Richard Darrah's report on the reconstruction project.