The Pesse Canoe. The oldest water vessel of the world was found near the village of Pesse in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. It is dated between 8040-7510 BC, leaving even ancient cradles of civilization like Egypt and Mesopotamia behind. Sure, we have time for you to re-read the previous sentence.
The Pesse dugout canoe is made of Scots pine wood, about 3 meters long and 45 centimeters wide. The front of the canoe is massive, creating a kind of forecastle. It is dug out with an axe— a stone axe, of course, since it was the Middle Stone Age. Tools made of antler and bone might have also been used. Unlikely, fire was used to hollow out the tree trunk. And why was it made of pine wood and not of oak? Pine was the first vegetation after the Weichselian glaciation, the latest ice age.
This unique artifact of human history was nearly lost. When constructing a road in 1955, the construction workers found this big piece of wood, which they gave no special attention. Fortunately, it fell off the dump truck on a dirt road and was later found by a farmer. He, crofter Hendrik Wanders, did think it was special. Hendrik notified the regional archaeological service, the Biologisch-Archeologisch Instituut, of which Professor Tjalling Waterbolk was director. One thing led to another. Hendrik received 150 gulden for it (equivalent to about 600 USD today) and a lifelong membership to the museum. An over-the-top reward for such a modest find, of course. Imagine if they were to reward every person finding the oldest vessel in the world; the Drents Museum soon would not have any resources left.
The reason the canoe was preserved so well, was because it was buried in peat soil, sealed off from oxygen. Maybe 2 to 2.5 meters deep.
A replica has been made to show it really did float, even when manned by (very) well-fed modern humans. Proof that the canoe was a canoe, indeed. The replica was built by Jaap Beuker, who was the conservator of the Drents Museum at the time, and tested at a small fen near the village of Witten in the province of Drenthe. With this experiment, the arguments of some scholars that the dugout canoe was perhaps a trough for pigs or even a chest, were countered. The main argument of the critics was the round base of the artifact, which supposedly was unfit for a canoe. But it was not. In addition, it turned out that more ancient canoes had a round base. Furthermore, the argument that it could also be a feeder or trough was far-fetched since no animal husbandry existed back then in the region.
Check this short movie to watch a replica floating, spoken in the local Low Saxon speech, by the way.
The oldest boat of the planet is exhibited at the regional Drents Museum. A wonderful museum otherwise too.
Note 1 – The Pesse Canoe has a close competitor, namely the Dufuna Canoe found in Nigeria, which was found in 1987 and is dated between 6,500 and 6,000 BC.
Note 2 - We had to be very creative linking this canoe with the Frisia Coast Trail, since the trail itself is still 55 kilometers away from Pesse as the crow flies. However, the province of Drenthe (formerly Drentland) was the fourth so-called Sealand of greater Frisia during the High Middle Ages. If you think we stretched the argument too far, we must agree, however.
Having said this, when we retrace our steps even further back to the Late Iron Age, Frisians (Frisii or Fresones) might have inhabited (parts of) the province of Drenthe, and they might even be responsible for the death of the Girl of Yde. Yde is a village. Read our blog post The Killing Fields, of the Celts to learn more about this ancient history.
Suggested hiking
Because this is a hiking site, we point out that Green Planet has developed a nice short hike, Kano van Pesse ('canoe of Pesse') which also takes you to the spot where the canoe was found. Please, also find the walking guide they made for this hike.
Suggested music
Bonnie Dobson, Land of the Silver Birch (1972)
Further reading
Beuker, J.R., Varen met de oudste boot ter wereld – Een experiment naar aanleiding van discussies over de kano van Pesse (2021)
Beuker, J.R. & Niekus, M.J.L.Th., De kano van Pesse - de bijl erin (1997)
Christien, Maak kennis met de oudste boot ter wereld (2022)
Historiek, Kano van Pesse, het oudst bekende vaartuig ter wereld. Na opgraving bijna weer weggegooid (2023)
Lemmers, N., Wat is de oudste boot ter wereld? Hoe maak je een boomstamkano? (2017)
Lok, A., Drentse bodemschat: de kano van Pesse (2018)