The Dover Bronze Age Boat

In July 1998, the first elements of the incredible case specially designed for the Boat arrived at the museum.

The large metal components of the case where lifted above the museum's carpark and brought into the building through the gallery window. The case elements were then fitted together in the gallery. The custom-built cradle has been partially assembled inside the case.

Since the arrival of the pieces of the boat in Dover in the summer of 1998 a team of archaeologists worked on reassembling the boat onto its exhibition cradle.

This picture shows a stage in this progress - the mid section pieces taking shape on the cradle. Slowly the individual pieces were offered up to the 'jigsaw', still on their individual custom supports. Measurements were taken for the final cradle elements, crafted to exactly match the shape of the boat pieces they are supporting.

The flat bottom section shown here was the first section to be lifted off its temporary supports and placed on the permanent exhibition cradle. You can just see on the right hand side of the boat the gentle curve of the side pieces (iles) alongside the flat planks.

It was a complex and difficult procedure with each new piece creating a new challenge. This means the team putting it together often had to think on their feet! (superbly demonstrated here by Barry Corke and Adrian Murphy).

The reassembly of the boat was undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust under the supervision of Peter Clark.