Boats designed 3,000 years ago take to the water

The boats were built from the branches of a Lime tree

Two boats built out of logs with tools and techniques from the Bronze Age have been successfully launched.

The craft were made by volunteers and have been rowed on the River Nene at Stanwick Lakes in Northamptonshire.

They were copied from log boats which were abandoned when a settlement by the river near modern-day Peterborough was destroyed by fire during the Bronze Age.

Dr James Dilley, lead archaeologist on the project said "we've learnt so much through the process".

The team at Stanwick Lakes spent 700 hours over two years carving out the boats using replicas of tools used 3,000 years ago.

The exercise was part of a £250,000 National Heritage Lottery-funded project to connect the nature reserve with its ancient past.

The boats were built and launched by volunteers

The three vessels were based on those found during an excavation of Must Farm in Whittlesey, near Peterborough.

The settlement burnt down less than a year after construction and the population fled, leaving behind their possessions including nine log boats, which were found during a dig.

Two of the boats were joined together to form a catamaran

Dr Dilley said that when people who had worked on excavating Must Farm saw the boats being built at Stanwick Lakes they "recognised tools, techniques and marks that we've created that they've seen in the original [settlement] during excavation".

Each of the replica boats was made from a branch of a lime tree and two were joined together to form a catamaran for the launch.

"That worked fine, and then we went the whole hog and attached all three. The most we had on it was six people," said Dr Dilley.

"Apart from an intentional overboard for theatrics, they absolutely held together."

The boats successfully negotiated the River Nene

He said one of the things that emerged from the project was the versatility of Bronze Age tools.

"An axe isn't just an axe - you can use it to scrape bark off, you can use it to open splits in wood," said Dr Dilley.

For Stanwick Lakes, he added that "the hope is that this is the first step to bigger and more exciting things".