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Catherinefield

Logboat

Site Name Catherinefield

Classification Logboat

Alternative Name(s) Locharbriggs

Canmore ID 66326

Site Number NY08SW 18

NGR NY 0013 8011

NGR Description NY c. 0013 8011

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/66326

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Dumfries And Galloway
  • Parish Dumfries
  • Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
  • Former District Nithsdale
  • Former County Dumfries-shire

Archaeology Notes

NY08SW 18 c. 0013 8011

The stern portion of an oak dug-out canoe was found at NY 0013 8011 in September 1973 by Dr Jardine, following mechanical drainage operations. It had been placed there by the driver of the excavator, and no information could be obtained about its original position, except that it was in close proximity to the find spot. Afer conservation work, the canoe was donated to Dumfries Museum. The maximum surviving length is 2.42m, and the width varies between 0.75m and 0.81m.

A radio-carbon date of 3754 BP +- 125, which would give a date of 1917 bc +- 125 when corrected for the new half-life of C14, was obtained from a sample taken from the outside of the canoe.

W G Jardine and L S Masters 1977.

In 1973 a logboat was revealed during the mechanical re-cutting of the Old Course of the Lochar Water across Lochar Moss in middle Nithsdale at an altitude of about 15m OD and in an area which had previously been extensively drained. Part of the boat broke away during digging operations and was left in the open air for some time before its significance was recognised by a visiting geologist. It was initially removed to a storage tank in Dumfries and is currently (October 1994) undergoing conservation in the laboratories of the National Museums of Scotland prior to return to Dumfries Museum for display under accession number DUMFM 1974.182. The remainder of the boat is presumably still in situ.

The recovered section measures up to 2.24m in length and between 0.75 and 0.81m in breadth; it has been hollowed from a split (and presumably half-sectioned) trunk of oak which probably measured about 1m in diameter. The starboard side has been considerably damaged and the floor less so, but the port side may survive in part to its full height, which suggests an internal depth of 0.23m. The sides are slightly flared and measure between 30mm (at the top) and 80mm (at the bottom) in thickness. The floor is about 0.18m thick and the stern has been formed by a flat-topped block measuring about 0.32m in length. In the absence of a large part of the boat the slenderness coefficient can only be said to have been at least 2.9. On the assumption that the angle of the flare was 10?, the seaworthiness ratio appears to be about 0.06. The McGrail morphology code may be cited as 533:xx3:xxx but the form cannot be ascertained on the basis of the incomplete remains.

The boat has been radiocarbon-dated to 1804 bc ? 125 (SRR-326), which determination may be calibrated to about 2143 or 2183 cal BC.

W G Jardine and L S Masters 1977; S McGrail 1987; R J C Mowat 1996; information from Mr D Lockwood.

NMRS, B52943/NC, B52944/NC and B52945/NC.

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