Dugout canoe from Pesse

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Pesse's dugout canoe

The Pesse dugout canoe ( Dutch Kano van Pesse , also Boot van Pesse ) is a Mesolithic dugout canoe and is considered the oldest surviving boat . By means of 14 C dating , the vehicle was found in the period between 8200 and 7600 BC. Chr., Whereas according to a further 14 C-dating at the Laboratory for Natural History of the University of Groningen to the time between 6590 and 6040 BC. Was dated. The dugout canoe is exhibited in the permanent exhibition of the Drenthe Museum in Assen .

Find

The dugout was in August 1955 during construction work to the motorway Rijksweg 28 in the small Moor Blikkenveen found on the southern border of the village Pesse. The site is about 4 km north of Hoogeveen , in the Dutch province of Drenthe . During the work, a four-meter-deep, peat-filled depression was cut, which should be filled with sand to stabilize the subsoil. At a depth of two to two and a half meters, a crane operator came across a tree trunk, which was loaded onto a wagon by hand and driven onto the dump. A few days later, Hendrik Wanders, who lived nearby, noticed the trunk on the dump, who suspected a special find. He loaded the log onto a wheelbarrow, took it to his garden, and notified the Drents Museum, which instructed him to cover up the find and keep it moist. Wanders left his find to the Archaeological Institute of the University of Groningen , where the dugout canoe was scientifically examined. As a method of preservation has been freeze-drying chosen, but since no plant stood in the required size available, had specifically a plant to be built in the meantime, the discovery in a refrigerator of the city was the slaughterhouse of Groningen stored. Immediately before being moved to the specially constructed facility, the dugout canoe was stored for a few days in a freezer at a Groningen fishmonger's at −20 ° C and then freeze-dried under vacuum.

description

The length of the dugout obtained is 298 cm, the width 44 cm. The hull was carved out of the trunk of a pine tree with flint or antler tools .

criticism

Due to the small size of the dugout, various experts expressed their criticism of the interpretation as a watercraft. Danish experts questioned its seaworthiness and an amateur archaeologist even interpreted the find in an article in the newspaper Dagblad van het Noorden as a feeding or even a plant trough from the Bronze or Iron Ages . In 2001, a replica of the find was made in its original size and shape using modern tools and extensively tested for five days by a team led by Jaap Beuker on Witteveen. It turned out that the dugout canoe was extremely maneuverable as a boat and could even be sailed on. Due to its relatively small dimensions, the dugout canoe was designed for a smaller person in today's comparison. The replica of the dugout canoe was christened by two granddaughters of Finders Wanders .

See also

literature

  • Gerrit Daniël van der Heide: Scheepsarcheologie. Scheepsopgravingen in Nederland en elders in de weld . Strengholt, Naaden 1974, ISBN 90-6010-182-0 (Dutch).

Web links

Commons : Dugout of Pesse  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website Drents Museum
  2. ↑ Michiel Gerding: Het Drenthe boek . Ed .: Drents Archief. Waanders, Zwolle 2007, ISBN 978-90-400-8211-5 , p. 13 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Boomstamkano van Pesse. In: Musea in Drenthe. Retrieved April 13, 2016 (Dutch).
  4. ↑ a b The Pesse Boat (accessed May 31, 2011)
  5. ↑ a b H. J. Vonk: The land van he en hunebedden . Hoorn, Westfriesland 1973, ISBN 90-205-0794-X (Dutch).
  6. ↑ a b Overview of the reviews and report on the sailing properties on www.archaeoforum.nl (Dutch, accessed on May 31, 2011)