The oldest boats in the world

Water transportation started in the stone-age when the people built primitive boats to help them navigate rivers and lakes while fishing. With the growth of civilization, boats evolved from simple vessels to bigger war and trading boats. Galleys were developed in the Mediterranean around 3000 BC. From 1300 to 900 BC, the Polynesian progeny used some double-hulled sailing vessels to venture into the open ocean from the Bismarck Archipelago to Hawaii. The Arabic caravel replaced galleys in the 13th century. Water transport has evolved over the last hundreds of centuries to what it is today, some of the oldest vessels in the world include:

Pesse Canoe

Pesse canoe is the oldest known boat on Earth and carbon-dating indicates that it is from the Mesolithic era between 8040 BCE to 7510 BCE. One of the Pesse canoes is currently on display in the Drents Museum in the Netherlands. The boat was made using a Scots-pine log, and it is 17 inches wide and 117 inches long. The canoe was discovered in the Netherlands in 1955 during the construction of the Dutch A28-motorway.

Dufuna Canoe

The vessel was discovered by a Fulani herdsman in 1987 some few miles from the Dufuna village in the state of Yobe in Nigeria and is considered the oldest canoe in Africa. Radio-carbon dating of the piece of charcoal collected near the site indicated that the canoe was 8,000-8,500 years old. The boat is in Damaturu and is considered the second oldest vessel in the world.

Khufu Boat

The Khufu boat is the largest preserved ship and is about 143 ft long and 19.5 ft wide. Khufu ship is currently on display in Giza-Solar boat Museum, and it is believed to have belonged to the second Pharaoh Khufu of the old Egyptian kingdom. The vessel was sealed in the Pyramid complex in Giza around 2,500 BC, and just like most of the buried Egyptian boats, the Khufu ship was to be used in the afterlife.

Dover Bronze-Age Boat

The Dover boat is one of the few bronze-age vessels found in the United Kingdom, and it dates back to 1575 to 1520 BC, making it one of the oldest intact boats in the world. The Dover boat was built using Oak planks which were sewn together using yew lashings a technique used in Britain during that era. The 31.17 ft long vessel is at the Dover museum in the United Kingdom. The Norwest Hoist construction workers discovered the Dover boat on September 28, 1992.

Rhone river surface in Aries France, and it had been on display at the Musee-departemental Aries antique since 2013.

Salme Boats

The Salme vessels were used as ship burials during the 700-750 AD in the Nordic iron-age which contained numerous artifacts, weapons, and remains of more than 40 warriors. The two clinker-built vessels of Scandinavian origin were discovered in Salme village in Saaremaa Island, Estonia in 2008 and 2010.

Oseberg Boat

The Norwegian vessel is a well-preserved Viking vessel found at the Oseberg-farm in the County of Vestfold. It is one of the beautiful artifacts which survived from the Viking period plus the boat is at the Viking-ship museum in Bygdoy, Norway.

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