Once again, I drove over to Hull today. The Tigers were playing Stoke City.
On the way, I took a detour into the village of North Ferriby that sits on the north shore of The River Humber, five mile west of Hull. My main motivation was to bag two more squares for the Geograph photo-mapping project.
It was a grey, chilly day. You could hardly see across to the other side of the river. Not the best day for taking pictures. Even the mighty Humber Bridge was hard to see in the murk. I did a short, circular walk that took me through a green riverside leisure park that occupies a site that was once devoted to landfill.
There I was surprised to see the scene shown in the picture at the top. As you can see, there's the outline of a boat set in the ground. It is a kind of memorial in recognition of the fact that close to this spot the remains of three very old boats were discovered by amateur archaeologists in the middle of the twentieth century.
The boats were the oldest known sewn-plank boats found in Europe and they dated back to the Bronze Age - some four thousand years ago. They were not pleasure boats but working vessels - used for transporting goods within the waters of the Humber Estuary and possibly beyond. Similarly constructed boats were found by The River Nile - dating back to The Ancient Egyptian era.
Such discoveries make you think about our ancient ancestors and the lives they led.
Before leaving North Ferriby, I headed into The Riverside Walkway Cafe for a latte and a delicious cheese and tomato toastie. Vital fuel before the football match which I am sorry to say we lost by two goals to nil. Boo hoo!
When I saw the boat outline my first thought was Vikings have been here! And maybe they have and maybe they haven't but they did get around to most places that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteElsie.... the Ferriby boats were in use three thousand years before Vikings came to the east coast of Britain and two thousand years before the alleged birth of Jesus.
DeleteYour team may have lost, but you gained two more squares for geograph plus knowledge about the past. That in itself made the trip worthwhile, I think.
ReplyDeleteYou think correctly but I enjoyed the game anyway. Our lads played well and should have won.
Delete"So Ferriby cross the Humber"...
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the river there is South Ferriby so yes, the places were concerned with ferrying. Maybe that is what the three boats were all about.
DeleteI often wonder what I'd find in my garden if I dug 3 feet down. Roman coins or a Norman crown maybe.
ReplyDeleteOr possibly a drainpipe?
DeleteI can't imagine there were too many pleasure boats four thousand years ago. Four thousand years ago. Mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I bet there were no pleasure boats. Life would have always been a struggle for survival from season to season.
Deletethis photo geo thing sounds interesting - is it like pokemon?
ReplyDeleteStart exploring here Mr Fox... https://www.geograph.org.uk/
DeleteIt costs nothing to join up and start contributing images.
bit like geocaching.... which i do..... and that's a bit like pokemon which i also do..... seems interesting - i'll explore further
DeleteIt's always seemed to me that there are humans who are most comfortable beside and on the water. Like Ratty in Wind in the Willows. They learn to build the boats to travel on it, do commerce from it, fish from it, use it as a starting point for exploration. I think it has always been this way most likely.
ReplyDeleteSmooth modern day roads are quite recent. Before them there were rutted or muddy tracks. It was so much smoother to float or sail on water and with the right boat you could carry big weights too.
DeleteIt's interesting that even boats from so long ago are recognizably boat-shaped. Humans seem to have grasped the benefit of a pointed bow quite early.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point! (Geddit?)
DeleteYou find lots of interesting things, Neil.
ReplyDeleteA lot of English people do not realise that there is so much to be fascinated by here and so much beauty too,
DeleteAnother pleasant day out.
ReplyDeleteWell... apart from losing to The Potters!
DeleteFascinating post. I didn't know what sewn-plank boat meant so I looked it up and learned something new today.
ReplyDeleteWere enough remains found to give a good idea of what the boat looked like? Incredible to find something from 4,000 years ago. We really don't know what's under our feet!
ReplyDeleteAlways interesting with finds that prove people were quite inventive (and skilled craftsmen) way back in the past
ReplyDeleteDid you check no one was watching, and then pretend to sit in the boat and row, making oar swishing noises.
ReplyDeleteIf we waited for good weather we would get out very few times so good on you for getting out when it's not nice.
ReplyDelete