Subject: Re: [baidarka] making kayak ribs
From: Will Samson (willsamson@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Fri Nov 18 2005 - 11:49:35 EST
> One researcher in the history of boat development opined that the
> most common boat in post-ice age Europe was probably the skin on
> frame and not the dugout since the climate was still sub-arctic and
> trees big enough for dugouts were in short supply or non-existent.
> But skinny poles and branches like birch and willow were plentiful.
> It is possible the coracle and curragh are survivors of that
> tradition.
Interesting! When I was at primary school in the '50s, in Forfar in the
north east of Scotland, a large, dugout canoe (about 20' long) complete with
a spade-shaped paddle was found in bog near the edge of Forfar Loch. This
was excavated and is now in the collection of the McManus Galleries in
Dundee (currently closed for refurbishment). Not sure of the date, but will
try and find out. I seem to remember that fragments of a coracle were found
in the same dig; so it seems not unlikely that both types were in use at
about the same time. Mind you, I was only about 8 or 9 years old at the
time and my memories are a bit hazy, but one thing that sticks in my mind is
that a squad of us schoolkids were set to work riddling the soil that had
come out of the excavation and fragments of pots and soggy bits of hide were
found in it.
Bill
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