Ancient Logboats in Lithuania: New Finds, Wood Taxa and Chronology

Abstract

More than 70 logboats are known in Lithuania and about half of them date before 1800 cal AD. This paper reviews these more ancient logboats, which were discovered in the beds of former or still existing lakes and rivers and present new radiocarbon (14C) dates and wood taxa identifications. Special attention is paid to the logboat found at Šventoji 58, which is at present the oldest 14C-dated (2895–2640 cal BC) logboat found East of the Baltic Sea. Most logboats from the pre-1800s period were 14C dated to medieval and early modern periods and they were made out of pine and oak wood. From a very scarce dataset available it seems that oak wood was introduced into logboat building by Neolithic people, who also brought new technologies in stone tool production. We also noted that 14C dating does not confirm the logboat typology suggested in earlier studies.

Delivering the Deep: Maritime archaeology for the 21st century: selected papers from IKUWA 7

“…In eastern Europe, the oldest logboat was found in Lithuania and dated by radiocarbon at around 2800-2600 cal BC; it likely belonged to the Corded Ware culture (Piličiauskas et al 2020). This Šventoji 58 logboat was made of oak and found at a paleo-river bottom.…”

The first Neolithic boats in the Mediterranean: The settlement of La Marmotta (Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio, Italy)

“…Finally, canoes from the French sites of Paris-Bercy (2890-2510 BC), 6 and 8m long, and one from Charente, 5.56m long, (3650-2900 BC), were made from oak (Quercus sp.) [18,22,24,26,27].…”