Several archaeological finds of ancient boats in Britain are currently being reconstructed using a variety of methods and standards. This paper discusses some of the general principles that should be observed so that such endeavours will be scholarly valuable. The Dover boat case study (later in this issue) is based on the analysis presented here.

Marsden, 1993) has been centred primarily on problems of terminology in dealing with the various vessels built with the aim of broadening our knowledge of the maritime past. The Editor recently provided a suggestion for a standard for the nomenclature (Fenwick, 1993), and this may help to clarify some of the problems, even if several questions remain to be settled-such as what to call a vessel the hull of which is a 'replica' and the rig a 'reconstruction' in her definition. But terminology is not the only problem.Quite evidently there is a strong need for proper scholarly standards for the maritime branch of archaeology, consciously formulated to encompass the full range of research potentials. As regards the ships of the past these hold great potential for the study of several branches of cultural history, related on the one hand to their reflection of general aspects of society such as technology, communications, trade, warfare, fishing, settlement and even cults, and on the other hand to the individual history of the ship as far as this can be traced. I n order to be able to exploit the full potential of a ship find a multidisciplinary approach is needed, as well as a wide range of practical skills. To do so archaeologists have to supplement their own professional background with that of historians, wood specialists, environmentalists, naval architects, boatbuilders and sailors-not to mention the knowledge needed for the utilization of wood and iron in accordance with proper ancient standards, for the manufacture of ropes and sail in unfamiliar 1057-2414/95/040303+04 $12.0010 materials, non-instrumental navigation and weather-forecasting, as well as other skills.Few, if any, maritime archaeologists have a sufficiently broad base of knowledge and skills to cover this full range of capacities. Consequently a range of specialists must co-operate, under the responsibility of the excavator/ investigator, in the analysis and publication of a ship find. Methodology provides us with several means by which we can achieve results that are informative and relevant, and which at best can provide new insights into the cultural context of which the find is a part.One of these means is Experimental Archaeology. It provides the investigator of a ship find with an excellent opportunity to test the quality of the archaeological record and the relevancc of the documentation in general against thc challenge of creating a new vessel that will: ( I ) match the structural lay-out and the shape as well as the materials and techniques of the original in all its preserved parts; (2) have its missing parts recreated following the construction principles and lines of the preserved parts, possibly supplemented by evidence from other finds, iconography and other sources of information; and (3) function as a seaworthy vessel in the correct setting and with a crew capable of handling this particular type of craft.In carrying out such a project to a sober scholarly standard the investigator, as well as others involved in the experiment, ca...

The Bronze-Age Dover boat, reconstructed and published by Owain Roberts in 2004, is discussed in regard to the general considerations of reconstructing ancient boat structures in the previous paper. The archaeological evidence shows that the boat had a bottom shape different from that shown in the 2004 reconstruction, and various other aspects, such as the general shape and strength of the hull and the calculation of potential speed when paddled, are questioned, partly drawing on the author's experience with the reconstruction of the Hjortspring boat. A re-assessment of the evidence is called for before any attempts to build a full-scale version of the Dover boat for sea-trials. I n this paper on the Dover Bronze-Age boat from c. 1550 BC (Fig. 1), various aspects of its reconstruction as presented in two recent publications (Clark, 2004a;Clark, 2004b) will be discussed. These notes do not represent the work of an inter-disciplinary group of scholars, nor do they claim to identify the one and only solution to the reconstruction problem. 1 However, they may serve as a first step in a reappraisal of the boat, hopefully leading to a fruitful discussion about aspects of the construction as well as the propulsion and seafaring ability of this vessel, which are so important for our understanding of Bronze-Age boatbuilding and seafaring.The Dover boat monograph, edited by Peter Clark (2004a), is a fine example of a comprehensive publication of a prehistoric boat find. It contains detailed and well-illustrated chapters on the remains of the boat itself by Peter Marsden, and Richard Darrah describes the pioneering effort to determine the original shape and size of the heavily-degraded timbers that had been buried for millennia. Conclusions concerning BronzeAge woodworking technology derived from study of the original timbers and a full-scale, 3m-long midships section are described by Richard Darrah and Damian Goodburn, whereas the naval architectural aspects of three alternative reconstructions, one of which is given special attention, are presented by Owain Roberts. Other chapters deal with the excavation, the context of the vessel, as well as various environmental aspects.Regrettably, this monograph had not yet been printed when the Dover Bronze-Age Boat Trust arranged a conference in Dover in 2002 on the boat and its context. For this reason a serious discussion of the proposed reconstruction(s) could not take place, but a number of papers presented then summarised aspects of the monograph as well as discussed other Bronze-Age finds with regard to topics such as criteria for seaworthiness of ancient vessels and the social and religious context of Bronze-Age boats. These papers have now been published (Clark, 2004b), thus enabling others to assess the proposed reconstructions and their suggested seaworthiness (or lack of it) against the documentation of the find.In the monograph, Owain Roberts publishes his plans of the reconstructed boat, presenting three versions, Dover 1-3, for discussion (Fig. 2). They are all laid o...

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