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The Pesse canoe is believed to be the world's oldest known
The boat was discovered in 1955 during the construction of the Dutch A28 motorway. The route passes south of the village of Pesse in
boat
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on i ...
and certainly the oldest known canoe
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle.
In British English, the ter ...
. Carbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was de ...
indicates that the boat was constructed during the early mesolithic
The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...
period between 8040 BC and 7510 BC. It is now in the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
Description
The boat is a dugout-style canoe measuring long and wide. It was formed from a single Scots pine log. Marks are present in the cavity, likely formed fromflint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
or antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on ...
tools.
It was a suitable vehicle for inhabitants who spent much of their time hunting and fishing in a watery landscape of marshes, creeks and lakes. This is confirmed by another discovery in the region of the great rivers Maas, Rhine and Waal: graves, dating back to between 5500 and 5000 BC. Judging by the food remains near the grave, the group lived on the safe heights of river dunes while using their canoes to catch pike in the river, in addition to using flint arrows to shoot birds while gathering fruits, vegetables and nuts.James C. Kennedy (2017) ''A Concise History of the Netherlands'' Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
History
The boat was discovered in 1955 during the construction of the Dutch A28 motorway. The route passes south of the village of Pesse in Hoogeveen
Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe.
Population centres
Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...
through what was a peat bog. To construct the roadbed, the peat needed to be removed, and during excavation, a crane operator came across what he believed to be a tree trunk below the surface. Local farmer Hendrik Wanders noticed the log and took it for further inspection. He gave the boat to the University of Groningen
The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...
, where it was examined and freeze dried for preservation. It was later transferred to the Drents Museum, located near the discovery site.
Debate
A visiting Danish archeologist questioned whether such a small boat would be seaworthy. In 2001, an exact replica was constructed by archaeologist Jaap Beuker and successfully paddled by a canoeist, proving that it did in fact function as a boat. Some also theorized that the find could have been another object, like an animal feeder. Beuker noted that animals were not kept by the people from the boat's era (in fact, no domesticated farm or work animals were kept anywhere in Europe yet during theMesolithic
The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...
), so it could not have been a trough. The boat is also similar in construction to prehistoric canoes found in other countries.
References