164 NOTES ON DUG-OUT BOATS. 



either cut or broken off flush with the gunwale, which at this 

 point is shghtly hollowed, as though worn. There is an identi- 

 cally similar hole on the same side of the bow. Unfortunately, 

 the corresponding parts of the left side of the boat are gone." 



The only object found that could be identified as an imple- 

 ment was a piece of oak, sharpened to a point, which can be 

 seen lying inside the boat in the plate given in the last part. 

 " This was got below the boat, in a similar position to the one it 

 occupies in the plate, and may possibly have been part of a 

 punting pole. Unfortunately, the rest of it, along with the bow 

 and part of the side, had been broken off by the workmen before 

 they had realised the nature of their find." 



The boat has now (March, 1902) been removed to the 

 British Museum at Bloomsbury. Mr. Traill adds, " it may be 

 interesting to note that several pieces of Roman pottery and a 

 well-made iron spear-head have been found at points ranging 

 from fifty to a hundred yards from where the dug-out was lying, 

 and in practically the same stratum." These last mentioned 

 specimens, together with others found in the excavations, are 

 now deposited in the Epping Forest Museum of the Club, by 

 the kindness of Mr. Sharrock, Mr. Traill and Mr. Marsh, the 

 engineers superintending the works. 



In 1878, when the marshland on the northern side of the 

 Thames was being excavated across the Plaistow and East Ham 

 level for the construction of the Royal Albert Docks (Victoria 

 Docks extension), the workmen uncovered a "dug-out" canoe, 

 which from the description appears to be similar to that found in 

 the Lea deposits. Fortunately the geological sections in these 

 excavations were examined and described by Mr. Whitaker, 

 F.R.S. {Geology of London, &'C., I., pp. 461-2), and Mr. Flaxman 

 C. J. Spurrell, F.G.S., F.S.A. had an opportunity of seeing the 

 boat in situ. His observations were published in the Archaological 

 Journal for i8yo (vol. xlvii., p. 170), and from that paper we 

 compile the following account. Mr. Spurrell made a drawing of 

 the section in his note-book at the time, and as this has not 

 hitherto been published we are glad, by his kindness, to engrave 

 it now. 



The " dug-out " was in a fairly good state of preservation 

 and made out of a single trunk of oak and carefully fashioned 

 into a regular form, and planned to measure. The length from 



