Replica of an old Slavic dugout canoe

For a few weeks, the Brandenburg State Archaeology Museum was working on a replica of an old Slavic dugout canoe. The giant, 10-metre-long oak log delivered from the Uckermark area quickly started to reveal the shape of a dugout canoe like those found on rivers around Brandenburg in Slavic times, around 1100 AD. With painstaking manual work, specialists under archaeologist Dr Hans Joachim Behnke at the Welzow Archaeology Technology Centre, archaeology technician Thorsten Helmerking and students under Prof. Dr Elke Kaiser of Berlin University were creating the shape of the boat.

From 25 July 2016, the spectacular step of burning out the canoe would take place. This shaped the inner surfaces using fire. Smoke and flames on the grounds of the museum are therefore not a sign of an emergency, just of experimental archaeology!

The canoe was floated and tested as part of that year’s Archäotechnica archaeological technology event on 20 August 2016 at 11 am. Birgit Fischer herself (former German kayaker and most successful German Olympic athlete) paddled the boat with her own canoeists.

You can see updates on the construction of the boat on YouTube.
>> see video

• For more information on the construction and to see a photo gallery, visit the website of the Welzow Archaeology Technology Centre under “Das atz baut seinen sechsten Einbaum” (The Archaeology Technology Centre is building its sixth dugout canoe):
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