I've been researching whether Neolithic people in Britain could have crossed the North Sea and I found this little gem on the National Trust website:
Over 5,000 years ago, a man trudged up and down the shores of Strangford Lough. He was frustrated, because he was fed up eating shellfish and seaweeds from the foreshore. He knew that there was an abundance of big, tasty fish out in the deep water, but he just couldn’t get to them. But he was ambitious and had an idea.
He walked along the forested shore until he found the biggest oak tree in the vicinity. Using only stone tools, he chopped away at the base until this enormous tree came crashing down. He then went about the slow process of hollowing out this massive trunk until he had created a log boat over 30 feet (9m) long. It must have taken him weeks. Rounding up some friends, they hauled and hauled until they had dragged it to the water’s edge. To great relief, it floated.
Of course, this is an imaginary scenario. But we can be sure that this did indeed happen because, unbelievably, the log boat can still be seen sitting in the sand of Greyabbey Bay. It has been carbon dated to between 3499 and 3032 BC which makes it over 5,000 years old. In fact, it is the oldest boat in Ireland found in a marine setting.
Curated from: source
So amazing
I love finding things like this. It fires my imagination.