Dover Bronze Age Boat Conference

Bronze Age Connections: Cultural Contact in Prehistoric Europe

Following on from the first Dover Boat conference in 2003, which was primarily concerned with the physical structures of such vessels, their discovery, recovery and preservation, the second conference examined the wider issues raised by such finds. Hosted by the Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust (DBABT) and the University of Kent over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd October, some 180 delegates gathered in the Cruise Terminal at Dover’s Western Docks, a fitting setting for papers on the subject of trade and contact in a European context.

16 speakers covered a diverse range of subjects in four themed sessions; Prehistoric navigation in NW Europe; The production and distribution of bronze and other goods; The politics of power: the economic basis of a ruling elite, and The symbolism of travel and the voyage in prehistory. Well-known local Kentish archaeologists, such as Peter Clark (Canterbury Archaeological Trust) and David Perkins (Trust for Thanet Archaeology), were joined by speakers from elsewhere in Britain, and from France, Holland, Belgium, Ireland and America. Professor Barry Cunliffe (Oxford University) took thoughts on maritime contact further into the Iron Age and beyond.

A wine reception was held on Saturday evening in the award-winning Dover Boat gallery in Dover Museum. This gave everyone the chance to view the Ringlemere Cup, on loan from the British Museum, which Stuart Needham was to discuss in context with other similar cups from Europe the following day. The conference dinner in the magnificent 12th-century refectory of Dover College followed this, with the atmosphere and good food much appreciated by the diners.

The conference concluded with an announcement by the DBABT that they were currently in negotiations to raise funding for a full-size reconstruction of the Dover Boat. The project is 3-phase; research, construction of different reduced-scale versions, and finally a full-sized boat to be sea-trialled. The project will take a minimum of three years, but one suspects that many will jump at the chance to crew such a vessel when it is eventually completed!

[fg]jpg|Artist’s reconstruction of the Dover Boat at sea.|Image[/fg]

[fg]jpg|Professor Cunliffe addresses the conference.|Image[/fg]