Bronze Age Boat

The world's oldest known seagoing boat

Dover Museum is privileged to host the famous Bronze Age Boat in the acclaimed Bronze Age Boat Gallery. 

This prehistoric wooden boat, discovered in September 1992, is thought to be some 3,500 years old. The boat's excavation was an internationally important archaeological discovery. After seven years of research and conservation, the Dover Boat came back to Dover and is now proudly on display at Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery.

The discovery, excavation and preservation of the Dover Bronze Age Boat has been internationally praised.  In December 2000, the Bronze Age Boat was awarded the British Archaeological Awards ICI Award 2000 in recognition of its contribution to archaeological knowledge.

Discovery and excavation

On 28 September 1992, Kent construction workers in the midst of building the A20 road link between Folkestone and Dover made an intriguing discovery.

The workers, who were working alongside archaeologists from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, uncovered the remains of a large and well-preserved prehistoric boat. This was a transformative discovery: the boat is roughly 3,500 years old and archaeologists estimate it would have been in use around 1,500 BC, during the Bronze Age.

The archaeologists were aware that past attempts at excavating similar boats in one piece had been unsuccessful. Consequently, a decision was taken to cut the boat into sections and reassemble it afterwards. It was also necessary to leave an unknown part of the boat underground as its burial site stretched out towards buildings and excavating close to these buildings would have been too dangerous.

After nearly a month of excavation 9.5 metres of the boat was successfully recovered and has since been marvellously preserved.

Archaeologists remain unsure of how large the boat originally was. It is possible the boat was originally many metres longer than what is displayed in the Gallery, or it could be almost complete. Either way, the boat holds a unique position as the world's oldest known sea-faring boat.

The Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust

The Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust is a charitable organisation which was set up to manage the conservation and exhibition of the boat. It is due to the work of this organisation that the Bronze Age Boat has been able to stay in Dover and can continue to be displayed in Dover Museum.

The daily running costs of the gallery are being met by Dover District Council, which owns and operates the Museum Service. In six years (1993-1999) the Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust raised £1.6million to fund the preservation and display of the boat.

The principal donors were :

• The Heritage Lottery Fund
• English Heritage
• The European Regional Development Fund (KONVER Programme)
• The Wolfson Foundation