Canoe, Catherinefield Farm, Locharbriggs

Found on the edge of the Lochar Water, this wooden dugout canoe is squared at one end while tapering at the other. It is believed to be the stern section of the boat, with the remainder of the boat presumably still in situ. Afer conservation work, the canoe was donated to Dumfries Museum. The earliest log boats can be dated to the Stone Age period when people lived by hunting and gathering. The boats were used for wildfowling and fishing along river banks and may have been steered and propelled by poles. Most boats were made of oak which splits along its grain easily, the remaining shaping being carried out with polished stone axes and flints. The log boat from Catherinefield is the earliest securely dated log boat in Scotland, it has survived from the early Bronze Age, over 4,000 years ago. The others were probably made over 2,000 years ago when many local people lived in crannogs or lake dwellings.