Mesolithic Boat Build and Enclosure

[crosslandkelly]

A big Crook knife is needed.

 

[THOaken]

It's definitely a boat! We can now call it a boat, I should say. It floated and was stable.

The day started with the sealing of a crack and the pegs on the bottom with animal fat to make sure they are water tight and then we continued to carve out the last bits of wood. We transported the boat (which caused a bit of a stir and quite a few visitors stood and watched) to the pond at the far end of the Farm site and found that it worked rather well and had no problems. In fact, I believe it was said that it's actually more stable than Butser's last boat attempt. I can't show any images of the boat in the water, I think, but I'll post plenty of photos of the Secrets of the Heath event. It was rather exciting to finally see it in the water, even though it was quite brief. We then moved it out of the Mesolithic enclosure using a system of logs places on the ground to roll it gradually. Once placed in its new spot we spent the rest of the day working on it a bit more.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Well done to you all, a great success, make sure you have a camera to hand on Saturday.

 

[boatman]

Congrats, whatever floats your boat

 

[THOaken]

And so the final day of working on the Eurybia has come to a close. The Eurybia is now in its place at Petersfield Heath, ready for plenty of use tomorrow for the Secrets of the Heath. Had the pleasure of testing it out on the lake. Roll on the last weekend of August.

Had the South Downs Rangers help us lift the boat.

Testing the boat for a while before going back to the Farm.

Not strictly Eurybia related, but after returning to Butser I started working on shaving off bark from a Hazel rod using a shave horse and draw knife (of which I don't have much experience, having used only hand tools, so it was nice to use one), which will be used as a fishing spear. I believe I'll be finishing the spear tommorow at the event and also making a few other items to go a long with our Butser Eurybia stand at the SotH.

Thanks for reading!

 

[crosslandkelly]

Glad to see you had a chance of a paddle in Eurybia, how did it handle? Draw knives are great tools to use, and can do so much more than debarking. Pretty sturdy looking shavehorse too. I wish I could be there to see the boat being paddled tomorrow, but unfortunately I'm working this weekend. Hope it all goes well tomorrow.

 

[THOaken]

Glad to see you had a chance of a paddle in Eurybia, how did it handle? Draw knives are great tools to use, and can do so much more than debarking. Pretty sturdy looking shavehorse too. I wish I could be there to see the boat being paddled tomorrow, but unfortunately I'm working this weekend. Hope it all goes well tomorrow.

It handled rather well, but that's from a complete novice's point of view. I think the last time I went in a water going vessel was when I was very young. But yes, it handled quite well, according to the lead builder. It has a slight list to one side, but it's definitely stable. The good thing is, tomorrow I should get some good experience paddling, as one of my jobs is to actually go out on it I believe. Draw knives/shave horse combo is very nice to use, indeed.

Thanks.

Edit: I don't know if I'll be going to the second day of the event or not, but either way I'll definitely make a thread Saturday night or Sunday night.

 

[crosslandkelly]

I look forward to reading it.

 

[THOaken]

It's finally done. The Euyrbia saw water at Petersfield Heath lake during the busy two day Secrets of the Heath event.

Here is a great photo of Ryan Watts and Will Lord in the boat.

 

[mrcharly]

Looks the part.

I'd love to take a closer look sometime. Making a boat like that with just fire and bone tools must have been a labour of weeks, if not months.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Nice pic, very stoneage.

 

[THOaken]

Looks the part.

I'd love to take a closer look sometime. Making a boat like that with just fire and bone tools must have been a labour of weeks, if not months.

Thanks, Mrcharly. Unfortunately, while we initially did use fire, antler picks, bone adzes, and shells to remove the sap wood layer for the most part, and we learnt a lot in the process, a large portion of the project was done by bronze and steel tools. The wood was too moist to char easily, so we had to abandon the burn-out idea as we didn't have enough time. We didn't have stone tools either, as we didn't receive them in time which is a shame, since they'd obviously be a main component of the period. We should still be getting stone tools though, and we've set a side a section of the boat to do some more experimentation. In the end, while it's not exclusively a Middle Stone Age boat, in many ways its still a prehistoric boat. Whilst it is a shame it's not an entirely Mesolithic boat, it's just a fact of the reality of deadlines. Using a variety of tools allowed volunteers to gain experience in different periods of prehistory, I like to think.

This thread details the project from start to finish and it explains why we had to do things the way we did. It's quite hard to summarise a 6 week project.

Cheers.

 

[boatman]

Great weekend at Butser, shame the Mesolithic and iron Age clashed and I had to choose to talk to the Butser visitors but that is always the problem with events if you participate rather than just visit. Terrific bit of work and write up, nice that it is being equipped with items like fishing spears.

Incidentally the bivvy bag still works and I fitted easily, even able to extricate myself during the night. Good to sleep under the stars again.