Date:

Ship from Elizabethan period found buried in quarry

Earlier in 2022, CEMEX workers dredging for aggregates at a quarry on the Dungeness headland, in Kent, England, found the remains of old timbers from a ship, around a quarter of a mile from the Kent coastline.

Upon realising the importance of the discovery, Kent County Council commissioned specialists from Wessex archaeology, in support with funding from Historic England.

What the archaeologists discovered, is a rare Elizabethan ship, which a dendrochronological analysis has dated the timbers being felled between 1558 and 1580, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

At the time, England was in a transitional period for ship construction, when ships moved from a traditional clinker construction (similar to Viking vessels) to frame-first-built ships, a technique used in the construction of the Mary Rose, built between 1509 and 1511, and ships that were used to explore and colonise the New World.

- Advertisement -
ship1
Image Credit : Wessex Archaeology

Andrea Hamel, Marine Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, said: “To find a late 16th-century ship preserved in the sediment of a quarry was an unexpected but very welcome find indeed. The ship has the potential to tell us so much about a period where we have little surviving evidence of shipbuilding but yet was such a great period of change in ship construction and seafaring.”

The ship was constructed using English Oak, for which the researchers have so far uncovered over 100 surviving timbers. Experts believe that the ship was either wrecked on the shingle headland, or was simply abandoned at the end of the ships usefulness.

Antony Firth, Head of Marine Heritage Strategy at Historic England, said: “The remains of this ship are really significant, helping us to understand not only the vessel itself but the wider landscape of shipbuilding and trade in this dynamic period. CEMEX staff deserve our thanks for recognising that this unexpected discovery is something special and for seeking archaeological assistance. Historic England has been very pleased to support the emergency work by Kent County Council and Wessex Archaeology, and to see the results shared in the new season of Digging for Britain.”

The story of this rare Elizabethan ship will feature on Digging for Britain on BBC2 at 8pm on 1 January 2023.

Wessex Archaeology

Header Image Credit : Wessex Archaeology

 

- Advertisement -
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan
Mark Milligan is an award winning journalist and the Managing Editor at HeritageDaily. His background is in archaeology and computer science, having written over 7,500 articles across several online publications. Mark is a member of the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), the World Federation of Science Journalists, and in 2023 was the recipient of the British Citizen Award for Education and the BCA Medal of Honour.

Mobile Application

spot_img

Related Articles

Clusters of ancient qanats discovered in Diyala

An archaeological survey has identified three clusters of ancient qanats in the Diyala Province of Iraq.

16,800-year-old Palaeolithic dwelling found in La Garma cave

Archaeologists have discovered a 16,800-year-old Palaeolithic dwelling in the La Garma cave complex, located in the municipality of Ribamontán al Monte in Spain’s Cantabria province.

Burials found in Maya chultun

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered burials within a chultun storage chamber at the Maya city of Ek' Balam.

Archaeologists analyse medieval benefits system

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have conducted a study in the main cemetery of the hospital of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, to provide new insights into the medieval benefits system.

Major archaeological discoveries in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

In an announcement by the State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation (LAKD), archaeologists excavating in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have uncovered seven Bronze Age swords, 6,000 silver coins, and two Christian reliquary containers.

Early humans hunted beavers 400,000-years-ago

Researchers suggests that early humans were hunting, skinning, and eating beavers around 400,000-years-ago.

Archaeologists find burial bundles with carved masks

A team of archaeologists from the PUCP Archaeology Program “Valley of Pachacámac” have uncovered over 70 intact burial bundles with carved masks.

Should the Elgin Marbles be returned?

The Elgin marbles are a collection of decorative marble sculptures taken from the temple of Athena (the Parthenon) on the Acropolis in Athens.