Eight rare boats conserved under public’s glare

It is the first time so many log boats have been found together and they will be treated using the same techniques pioneered for the Mary Rose ship - sprayed with a special wax to stabilise the fragile ancient timbers.

The eight boats, the longest of which measures almost nine metres long, were discovered by archaeologists as they excavated a section of a quarry at Must Farm near Peterborough in 2011.

The boats were moved to the town’s Flag Fen Bronze Age site, where a £100,000 grant from English Heritage helped fund a specialist cold storage unit which will prevent the boats from drying out too quickly and allow them to be kept in one piece. Previously log boats have been cut into pieces for conservation.

It is hoped the process will reveal more about the Must Farm log boats. Visitors to the Flag Fen site will be able to view the boats through glass and follow the conservation process first hand.

Ian Panter, principal conservator at the York Archaeological Trust, who has designed a conservation strategy for the boats said: “We’re keeping the boats wet and cold to help keep everything as it is - so there’s no biological activity to digest through the timber - to reduce decay of the wood.”

Mr Panter believes the boats were used for fishing and transporting cargo along the River Nene.

Carbon-14 tests will be carried out to give precise dates of when the boats were made and could also reveal why they were abandoned in the river.

“I think they had been intentionally sunk but we don’t know why,” Mr Panter said.

After two years in the refrigerated unit the boats should be stable enough to go on open display.