House and Boat: Reuse of Ship Planking in a 10th Century Building at Hungate, York


Excavations in 2008–2009 in Hungate, York, UK, conducted by the York Archaeological Trust (now York Archaeology) revealed the waterlogged timbers of another building of a type best known from Coppergate. This building, dating to the third quarter of the 10th century CE, was superficially of the same construction as seen earlier at Coppergate, consisting of a rectangular pit cut into the ground lined with posts that supported a boarded outer lining. At Coppergate, the timbers were largely freshly felled specifically for the buildings in which they were found, and the tree ring sequences were local to the York region. However, at Hungate, when the timbers were lifted, it was immediately apparent that the board lining was made up of reused articulated slabs from a clinker-built boat. Moreover, the type of clinker construction was unusual and not of the “typical” Northwest European/Scandinavian type. Dendrochronological samples allowed the identification of potential sources of boat timbers, which were not local to York. This paper considers the evidence provided by the study of woodworking technology and the work done to identify the type of boat, its potential provenance, and the provenance of the timber used in its construction.