Transport in Bronze and Iron Age Scotland

The main form of transport in wet land districts of Celtic lands in the Bronze and Iron ages was by water. You could say that the rivers and lochs were the motorways of the day. Canoes were used to transport the user through these watery "roads". These canoes were constructed from hollowed out logs and are called archeologically "dugout canoes". Many of these dugout canoes were found in River Clyde in Scotland. I would think that the River Clyde was quite an important centre in those far off days. I thought that you might be interested in some early descriptions of the excavation of these primitive canoes in the Clyde. Here they are described by a later observer called Daniel Wilson. The first was in 1780:

The first recorded discovery of one of the primitive canoes of the Clyde was made by the workmen engaged in digging the foundations of Old St Enoch`s Church. It was found at a depth of twenty-five feet from the surface, and within it there lay a no less interesting and eloquent memorial of the simple arts of the remote era when the navies of the Clyde were hewn out of the oaks of the Caledonian forests. There is a beautifully-stone finished stone celt, doubtless one of the simple implements of its owner, it not one of the tools with which such vessels were fashioned into shape; though it is undoubtedly more adapted for war than any peaceful art.

A celt was a common prehistoric weapon, it was a type of axe head. They were thought to have had wooden handles although of course the wood has long since perished.

Many other canoes were found along the River Clyde at Glasgow. In fact so many that by 1847, the locals were getting quite blasé about the new discoveries. Here is another extract by Daniel Wilson about the unearthing of a canoe in 1847, it gives more details:

At a depth of seventeen feet below the surface, and about 130 feet from the original brink, the workmen uncovered an ancient canoe, hewn out of the trunk of an oak, with pointed stem, and the upright groove remaining which had formerly held in its place the straight stern. The discovery was made in the autumn of 1847; and the citizens of Glasgow having for the most part a reasonable conviction that boats lose their value in proportion to their age, the venerable relic lay for some months unheeded, until at length the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland made application for it to the Trustees of the River Clyde, and the rude precursor of the fleets that now crowd that noble river is safely deposited in their museum.

Isn't that interesting, it shows how values have changed. Fancy leaving such a valuable antiquity just lying there, thinking it was worthless. Theres not that many canoes of that ancient era around.

Anyway I thought that you might be interested in the canoes of the Clyde.