A UNIQUE DISCOVERY OF EIGHT RARE BRONZE AGE LOG BOATS TO UNDERGO SPECIALIST CONSERVATION AT FLAG FEN

Eight superbly preserved and very rare Bronze Age log boats, uniquely discovered together in just one location, have been moved into a refrigerated unit to start a two-year conservation process at Flag Fen, near Peterborough.

It is the first time so many log boats have been found together and they will be conserved using the same techniques pioneered for the Mary Rose – which enables them to be kept in one piece and sprayed with wax to stabilise their fragile ancient timbers. Until now, log boats have been cut into pieces for conservation.

Remarkably intact, the eight boats, measuring up to 9m long, have just taken up residence in their cold store where the carefully controlled temperature will help protect them during their conservation at Flag Fen. Just two miles from the site of their discovery in 2011, in a quarry at Must Farm, Whittlesey, Flag Fen is part of the same 3,500 year-old prehistoric landscape.

The Must Farm quarry is owned by Hanson UK, and Bronze Age treasures, including the boats, were revealed during extraction of the deep Oxford clay layers that are used in the manufacture of bricks.

Archaeologists from Cambridge Archaeological Unit were appointed by Hanson UK to excavate a section of the lost course of the River Nene and came across remarkably preserved items, including preserved eel traps, weapons, pottery and tools. These give an incredible window into what life was like during the Bronze Age some 3,500 years ago.

Most astonishing of all was the discovery of the eight prehistoric log boats, most of which are in an incredible state of preservation due to the wetland nature of the area. Many are virtually intact and some have elaborate features including lifting handles, grooves for transom boards and evidence of decoration.

These boats have now been brought to Flag Fen, where they are undergoing conservation by a team of world-class experts to preserve them for future generations.

“It is tremendously important that the Must Farm boats were brought to Flag Fen, because they are part of the same story,” explains Mark Knight from Cambridge Archaeological Unit, who worked on the excavation and is one of Britain’s leading prehistoric and wetland field archaeologists.

Around 4,000 years ago there was a period when water levels started to rise, effectively creating the fens. At first this drove people living in the area back onto drier land, but by the middle Bronze Age people seemed to be adapting to the new environment and trying to use it to its best advantage.

“The boats arrival at Flag Fen represents a kind of ‘coming home’ because both the boats and the causeway discovered at Flag Fen in the 1980s and now on display to the public, represent novel kinds of conveyances in a landscape fast disappearing beneath rising waters”, explains Mark. “Both Flag Fen and Must Farm sit at the very edge of a lost world.”

The boats represent compelling evidence of a mass colonisation of the recently formed wetlands and reveal just how people learned to thrive in a submerged terrain. They are an invaluable resource for people to learn about the past impacts of climate change on human society.

The boats are an incredibly unique find and conserving them is vitally important. For this purpose a large specialist cold storage facility, funded by a £100,000 grant from English Heritage, was constructed to house the vessels at Flag Fen. The waterlogged boats will now be refrigerated to prevent them drying out too quickly. They will be treated over a two-year period with a specialist wax, polyethylene glycol, which will stabilise the timbers. The same technique was used on the ancient Seahenge timbers discovered in Norfolk, and on the Mary Rose.

It is hoped that the conservation process will reveal more about the Must Farm log boats, including how the boats were used. Carbon-14 tests will give precise dates as to when they were made. Questions like, why the boats were abandoned in the river. - were they just washed up at that point in the river, or were they sunk deliberately as part of some form of ritual or funeral ceremony – may also be answered.

During the treatment at Flag Fen, the boats can be viewed through glass by visitors during regular guided tours and on special event days. For more information, visit

Vivacity is delighted to be working with a team of experts on this project, including Hanson UK, English Heritage, Peterborough City Council, Cambridge Archaeological Unit and York Archaeological Trust.

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Notes to editors

About Vivacity

Vivacity is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status that manages many of Peterborough’s most popular culture and leisure facilities on behalf of Peterborough City Council. For more information visit

About Flag Fen

Flag Fen Archaeology Park, discovered by renowned archaeologist Francis Pryor, is home to a wooden causeway some 3,500 years old that is so unique it is held by experts all over the world in the same esteem as Stonehenge.

Excavations have revealed details of a wooden platform and post alignment of rows of upright posts that stretch for nearly a kilometre across the fen. These were built up between 1350 and 950BC. Because of the waterlogged nature of the fens, this monument has been remarkably preserved. It is a unique monument of national and international significance.

It is believed that the post alignment or ritual causeway consists of 60,000 vertical timber and 250.000 other horizontal pieces of wood. Within the structure, many hundreds of metal, stone and bone artefacts have been found. Some fixed in place between the wood, these items have not been lost – they have been deliberately placed.

Flag Fen is open daily from 10am-5pm (last entry at 4pm) from April to October. Flag Fen Archaeology Park, The Droveway, Northey Road, Peterborough PE6 7QJ. Call 01733 323414, email or visit the website at

Project Partners

Vivacity is delighted to be working with a team of experts on this project.

Hanson UK

Credit to the discovery of the archaeological finds at Must Farm must be shared with Hanson UK, who are part funding the conservation works. The brick pits at Must Farm exist because of Oxford Clay, which is reached by open cast extraction. It is this extraction that first revealed the Bronze Age landscape we are now discovering.
English Heritage
English Heritage has been a keen supporter of the Must Farm boats project, and provided a £100,000 grant for the construction of the cold storage facility at Flag Fen and provided specialist scientific advice for the project.
Peterborough City Council

Peterborough City Council kindly agreed to underwrite the moving of the boats to Flag Fen. The boats have enormous significance to Peterborough and Whittlesey; they are part of our heritage and underline the sophistication of the civilisations living in the area thousands of years ago.

Cambridge Archaeological Unit
The team, consisting of Mark Knight, Kerry Murrell and David Gibson, directed the excavations at the Must Farm quarry and supervised the recovery of the log boats. Widely acclaimed as some of Britain’s leading prehistoric and wetland field archaeologists.

York Archaeological Trust
Ian Panter, from York Archaeological Trust, has been retained to design and implement the construction of the cold store facility at Flag Fen, oversee the transfer of the log boats into the new facility, and design their conservation strategy.

Francis Pryor

Archaeologist, writer and broadcaster specialising in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Noted for his role in the discovery of Flag Fen.