Canoe, Lochinch, Castle Kennedy

Found close to the shore at Lochinch Castle, Castle Kennedy in 1870, this iron age canoe comes from the collection of the Earl of Stair and was gifted to the museum in 1964.   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.