The Dover Museum in Dover, England is one of the oldest museums in Kent England. It was originally founded in 1836 and is now one of the county’s premier tourist attractions. Even better the admission is free.
Much of its new popularity has come from the addition of the Dover Bronze Age Boat. In 1991 the museum was expanded in a brand new three-story building and has dedicated a gallery to the boat. The museum’salso galleries tell the story of the development of the town and its famous port, displaying archeological objects, graphics and model displays.
Dover Bronze Age Boat Gallery
This major archaeology gallery tells the story of the excavation and preservation of the Dover Boat. The gallery also explores major themes of the Bronze Age, using artifacts, replicas, models, video, computer interactives, hands-on exhibits and illustrated panels.
This prehistoric wooden boat, discovered in September 1992, is thought to be some 3,500 years old. The boat’s excavation was an internationally important archaeological discovery. After seven years of research and conservation by experts from all over England, the Dover Boat is back in Dover and is now proudly on display at the Dover Museum in the Bronze Age Boat Gallery.
Discovery and Excavation
On 28 September 1992, Kent construction workers in the midst of building the A20 road link between Folkestone and Dover made an intriguing discovery. The workers called in archaeologists from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, and together uncovered the remains of a large and well-preserved prehistoric boat. This was an internationally important discovery as the boat is roughly 3,500 years old and archaeologists estimate it would have been in use during the Bronze Age.
The archaeologists were aware that past attempts at excavating similar boats in one piece had been unsuccessful. Consequently, a decision was taken to cut the boat into sections and reassemble it afterwards. It was also necessary to leave an unknown part of the boat underground as its burial site stretched out towards buildings and excavating close to these buildings would have been too dangerous. After a month of excavation 28 feet of the boat was successfully recovered and has since been preserved.
Archaeologists remain unsure of how large the boat originally was. It is possible the boat was originally many feet longer than what is displayed in the Gallery, or it could be almost complete. Either way, the boat holds a remarkable position of being theworld’s oldest known sea-faring boat.
The discovery, excavation and preservation of the Dover Bronze Age Boat has been internationally praised. In December 2000, the Bronze Age Boat was awarded the British Archaeological Awards ICI Award 2000 in recognition of its contribution to archaeological knowledge.
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