Gift for the gods?

The Hanson Environment Fund has awarded £118,817 to the Derbyshire Environmental Trust for the second stage of preservation of the Hanson log boat. Discovered in June 1998 at Hanson’s Shardlow Quarry, speculation still surrounds the boat as to why it sank more than 3,000 years ago.

The 10m long boat was formed out of a hollowed-out tree trunk and its sunken location, buried in the bed of a former side channel of the river Trent, gives rise to various suggestions as to why it sank including flooding and deliberate overloading to provide a gift for the water gods, or to preserve the boat during the hot summer months. The boat will yield important information on Bronze Age craftsmanship and technology and, along with excavations examining the surrounding earth, about environmental conditions prevailing at the time, such as flora, fauna and climate.

The discovery, believed to be from the 13th century BC, was found alongside an ancient timber and stone causeway built across a prehistoric lake. The boat was found with a cargo of quarried stone, making the combination of boat, cargo and waterside a vital discovery in the quest to understand the Bronze Age period.

Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust excavated the boat which was lifted from the quarry in a number of sections and stored in water-filled tanks on site to stop the wood drying out and shrinking. It was then sent to the York Archaeological Wood Centre for conservation treatment where the pieces were placed in tanks of polyethylene glycol for a two-year period to strengthen its structure.

When the final conservation process has been undertaken later this year, the boat will be put on display at Derby Museum and Art Gallery along with other Bronze Age items found at Shardlow Quarry.

For further information on the Hanson Environment Fund contact: