Long Island Logboat
In September 2003 a logboat was excavated and raised from the shore of Long Island, Langstone Harbour. Prior to the excavation, only one end of the logboat had been glimpsed and recorded. A radiocarbon date of AD500 (plus or minus 100 years) was obtained.
The logboat as found with a marker post
It was apparent that the boat was in several pieces due to fractures in the timber caused by time and tide. The excavation also revealed that the buried end of the boat was not intact, potentially due to tidal erosion.
Sampling of sediments and recording of the boat in situ were carried out before it was removed. Lifting the boat revealed interesting environmental vidence. An area of grass or reeds had been trapped beneath it, while further wooden elements lay under the bow. Samples were taken to gain information on the palaeoenvironment in which the logboat was used and abandoned.
Each piece of the logboat was carefully raised
Through the winter, work to clean and draw the pieces of the logboat continued. Nigel Nayling, University of Lampeter, studied it for aspects of wood technology. He determined that the tree used was a fast grown oak and that it was a poor specimen due to the high number of knots. The wooden pieces from under the boat were also inspected. Some may have been worked, in particular a piece recovered from higher up the river bank may have been a mooring stake. A dendrochronological date for the boat was not possible as there were not enough rings present in the wood for a good sample to be taken. A second radio carbon date will now be acquired from a piece of wood from close to the heartwood - sapwood boundary to enable a date close to the felling of the tree to be obtained and confirm the initial date.
Nigel Nayling examines the logboat
The logboat is now with the Mary Rose Trust for conservation, which should take around two years to complete. After this the boat will be passed to Portsmouth City Museum for curation and display alongside other finds from Langstone Harbour.
Plan of the logboat