Iron Age dugout canoe in Lake Neuchâtel
A 2,500-year-old oak dugout canoe has been discovered in Lake Neuchâtel near Grandson. The 12.30-metre find is remarkably well preserved.
A roughly 2,500-year-old oak dugout canoe from the Iron Age has been discovered in Lake Neuchâtel near Grandson VD.
The 12.30-metre canoe is in a remarkably well-preserved condition. The cantonal archaeology department describes it as a significant find.
The dugout canoe is one of the most primitive forms of boat. The hull is crafted from a single tree trunk. During the Iron Age, oak wood was primarily used for this purpose.
It is one of the largest and most complete historic boats from this era ever discovered in Switzerland. The boat was pulled last Friday from a sandbank at a depth of 3.5 metres on the northern shore of the lake. This was announced by the Cantonal Archaeology Department of Vaud on Wednesday at a press event in La Poissine-Grandson.
The Cantonal Archaeology Department was supported by underwater technology experts during the recovery of the dugout canoe. The delicate operation was prepared over several months. The site had already been identified in 2021 during aerial archaeological surveys.
«This is an archaeological find of considerable significance for our understanding of the prehistory of the region,» said cantonal archaeologist Nicole Pousaz. «A radiocarbon analysis dated the dugout canoe to the period between 750 and 520 BC. It is one of the very rare almost completely preserved boats from this period in Switzerland,» she continued.
Part of the side section of the canoe came loose, and the area lying in the sediment was heavily cracked. «It is a very fragile object,» said Jean-Daniel Renaud to the news agency Keystone-SDA. He is the founder of a company specialising in technical aspects of underwater and terrestrial archaeology.
«The dugout canoe was made at the time from an oak trunk that was approximately 13 metres long and about one metre in diameter. This particularly large type of canoe was probably used for transporting goods and people or for fishing.
In 2014, archaeologists had already discovered an Iron Age dugout canoe in Lake Murten near Meyriez FR. The dugout canoe from Lake Moossee BE is considered the oldest boat found in Switzerland. It was dated to the middle of the 5th millennium BC.
