TIMBERS believed to be from a 5,000-year-old logboat have been discovered on a building site in Monmouth.

The prehistoric remains have been radiocarbon-dated to 3210BC, in the New Stone Age, and Monmouth archaeologist Steve Clark says that the craft could be unique in marine archaeology.

“There are cut features which appear to make it a complex craft and one that may be unique in maritime archaeology,” says Mr Clarke.

Work in the area of the discovery on Wonastow Road was temporarily suspended by David Wilson homes to give archaeologists enough time to recover the finds from the deep drainage excavations.

The site lies on the shore of what was once a huge lake caused by an Ice Age blockage in the Wye gorge and covering much of today’s town.

“As we had just discovered a rich Bronze Age settlement a few fields away we thought the remains would turn out to be Bronze Age,” said Mr Clarke, “so it was a real surprise when the dates came back as being twice as old.”

Two years ago, and less than 1500 metres away at Parc Glyndwr estate, Monmouth Archaeology found boat-shaped channels in the clay at right angles to the lake with evidence of woodworking with flints. They interpreted this as prehistoric boat-building, possibly a first such site in Europe.

On the same estate they identified remains of what appears to be only the second crannog in England and Wales, a building on stilts, out in the lake, dated to 2917BC.

The identification of the logboat is confirmed by criteria set out by maritime archaeology expert Professor Seán McGrail in 1978 under which the remains have to meet at least two of six features The Monmouth boat meets four of the six. There are five timbers, all oak, and all of which have been partially burned. Two of them have worked features, two others could also be part of a boat while the fifth piece appears to be an unworked oak log.

The largest of the worked timbers is assumed to be the gunwale at the stern or the bow of the logboat. It has an enigmatic oval-shaped open-ended hole, 4.8cm wide, and cut vertically into the surface of the wider end of the gunwale. If this was to take a rope it was broken where the pressure would have been greatest. There was also a deep ‘U’ shaped groove, possibly a cut in the stern, which may have been to accommodate a central steering oar.

The second worked timber appears to be part of the wall of the boat or the hull; it has a large round hole, this time 7.5cm wide, cut through it horizontally where there are extensive signs of wear. This feature may be to take an oar or be associated with the attachment of an outrigger or of the boat to a second one.

The shores of the lake must have been buzzing with prehistoric life but when a member of Welsh Government, under his own volition, asked the Heritage Minister what was being done to help the archaeologists, Cadw, the heritage arm of the Welsh Government, and the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, publicly disputed both the dating and the interpretation of discoveries at Parc Glyndwr. Now that dozens of radiocarbon dates and more prehistoric sites have proved them seriously mistaken Mr Clarke has appealed to Cadw and GGAT to stop disparaging the work of local archaeologists and to cooperate with them for the sake of the heritage of Wales. However, he said that the team were delighted with the help and cooperation they are receiving from Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes during the development.

A revised edition of Steve Clarke’s ‘The Lost Lake’ about the archaeology of the Monmouth Lake has just been published and will now include a supplement about the ‘Monmouth Boat.’ It is available from Monmouth Archaeological Society at £15 plus posting and packaging at The Town Wall, Monmouth. For more information contact [email protected]