The Intact 2,000 Year-Old Roman Boat Under The River Rhine | Time Team | Odyssey

The team is invited by Dutch archaeologists to help rescue crucial evidence from a 35-metre-long barge that once sailed the Rhine. The team has one chance to investigate the boat before the bulldozers move in.They are joined by city archaeologists Erik Graafstal and Herre Wynia, Fleur Kemmers (coin specialist) and Jaap Morel (ship archaeologist). Together with wood specialists Damian Goodburn and Esther Jansma, Phil looks at a similar barge which has been preserved and exhibited.
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[@odyssey]

It's like Netflix for History: the world's finest documentary streaming service -- use the code 'Odyssey' to get 50% off your History Hit subscription! bit.ly/3AQ8pPJ

[@NinoNiemanThe1st]

Great videos but seriously, why would anyone pay for this stuff given ... you know ... that thing called the internet (hence the odd '50%' discount I guess)? And 'like Netflix for History' doesn't make any sense. The world is saturated enough as it is with Netflix and many free history channels too. The videos look OK, but doubt a $12/mth subscription to a history channel is going to get much traction given what's out there for free - their content would have to be really high-quality and groundbreaking history available no-where else for that to happen. Anyway, that's IMHO, nice video, but not 'pay-for-it-coz-you-can't-find-it-anywhere-else' standard LOL.

[@mwadams1]

I think the best part is that the only reason we have it is because the barge was intentionally sunk to make an improvised levee. The Roman engineers knew that there in the bend of the river, it would fill up with silt and reinforce the bank for a long time. And sure enough, not only did it do the job they wanted, their plan preserved it for 2000 years. Remarkable.

[@imperatorcaesardivifiliusa1639]

As someone who's studying archeology, and writing his thesis on Roman ships, this documentary came like a miracle of God for me:D

[@bountyhuntermk2520]

Bore off

[@secretagent7888]

As someone who, through scuba diving, took underwater archaeology courses, I too found it fascinating

[@Tawadeb]

What a great name you have!!

[@alanaadams7440]

God is good 👍

[@chrispbacon3042]

@@alanaadams7440 Which god?

[@badbiker666]

It is so exciting to find ancient boats. Much more, I believe, than locating the foundations of ancient buildings. With the boats, you can really see the work that when into making them. Plus, there are only a small handful of preserved ancient boats in the entire world. I can't get enough of these.

[@olliefoxx7165]

I agree. You can see the timbers that were shaped by a human hand thousands of years ago. Seeing something like wood that normally rots as quick as we do when dead survive thousands of years gives us a tangible connection to our ancestors. So amazing..

[@jimdigriz2923]

If you love old boats and you live in the UK or if you ever visit, you should check out the Dover museum and the Bronze age boat, it's awesome. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Bronze_Age_Boat

[@flowdyofficial]

I love how passionate the guy, with what he's doing, who used spatula to reduce damage of the boat.

[@julesforsyth2996]

Then a chainsaw to get it dated. Crazy.

[@FrikInCasualMode]

Amazing find. But what blew my mind the most, is the extraordinary preservation of those fish traps. You can easily imagine bored Roman legionnaires weaving them in free time, hoping to catch some fresh fish to add to their military rations.

[@lorigarza9971]

I am so addicted to the Time Team. I watch everything I can find from them. So interesting and entertaining!

[@Allannah_Of_Rome]

It really sucks how archeologists and historians can't take over an entire site for as long as they need with no time limits. There's like liquid gold underneath our feet that will probably never be discovered for the next thousand years or if even it lasts that long..... It just makes me sad.....

[@manfredgrieshaber8693]

In 1981 several roman boats were found in Mainz, Germany inside the former roman harbour. Two universities, a large group of students, some archaelogists and historians used the dimensions of the wrecks to rebuild such a boat called Lusoria Rhenana. In 2011 with a well trained crew the ship reached a maximum speed of 7 knots and showed an astonishing manoeuvrability.

[@arthurcortright2186]

...we've got a guy that does that with a pencil... Priceless.

[@ancientsitesgirl]

Great news! I live relatively close to Utrecht, I love to travel to places related to the Imperium Romanum and film them, I want more such videos!!! 😍

[@MuscarV2]

This isn't news though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This episode is from 2006.

[@networkdude1332]

I agree totally!

[@king_cobra5492]

@@MuscarV2 New enough given its origin date!

[@AlmightyRawks]

If you haven't yet, you should visit the Castellum in Hoge Woerd, might be exactly your type of thing!

[@YTjennifer]

Spectacular episode. It sucks that the local government can't protect this in some way like as a scheduled monument (England) or a historic site (America) or how other countries do such things. Especially since all the archaeologists were totally stoked about it being so unique. I really enjoyed this episode!

[@julesforsyth2996]

I think British governments are just as bad now as commerce rules. America preserves what's above ground as their history is less than 300 years. They also destroy the history of the natives and continue to steal their land for oil exploration.

[@henkgertlenten]

A lot of these ships have been found already in the same region

[@barthoving2053]

See 42.00. It's protected. They keep part of the boat in the ground in the environment that kept the boat preserved for 2 millenium already and without big changes will keep on doing it for millenia to come. The Netherlands has pretty decent laws for preserving archeologist finds and organisation of it's archeology. Many archeologist are working for local government. The the reasoning for keeping it in the ground if it not be disturbed is that in the future there will be better techniques to explore them, and the preservation cost is lower this way. Getting a building permit is not easy in the Netherlands. If someone want to built at that site something that will disturb the soil at the depth of the remains of the boat and thus threatened it, they will have to pay for excavation. For example in the small city of Woerden 20 km downstreams ,a boat and castellum (fort) was found at the spot were an underground parking garage was planned. That boat was completely dug up and sight completely explored,. The parking garage is now named Castellum and has a small display about the dig and shows some the finds.

[@SimonElenor]

@@julesforsyth2996 And destroy statues and rocks and buildings that might be racist! Also get the Confederate flag completely wrong and want that removed. People are just going stupid over here.

[@chrisworthen1538]

@@julesforsyth2996 Our town, in the state of New Hampshire, has two indigenous sites that are very old and have been well documented. One is a stone fish trap in a small river that dates to 4,100 years ago and the other is a seasonal campsite that has been dated to 11,400 years ago.

[@bcfairlie1]

One of my favorite Time team episodes. This was fascinating.

[@chriseyre6013]

Absolutely fascinating! A very big Thank You to all involved!

[@mikecranapple8878]

I'm guessing the metal spear head belonged to the "retired soldier" who became a shipper and took it with him as a memento from his soldering days. Imagine if it was from the actual spear he used in battles! To him, it would be a sacred souvinir; a tangible piece of his legacy; an object for his children and aquaintances to touch and marvel at as he tells war stories about how he used it in battles.

[@theexchipmunk]

Thats actually a pretty good guess. Humans are very much the same nowadays and its very common for people to keep mememtos from their service.

[@anim8torfiddler871]

Drawings and Graphics for this video are VERY helpful in clarifying the subjects discussed so Enthusiastically by the Archaeologists. Friends have told me that Nederlands Beer is EXCELLENT. I hope everyone satisfied their thirst.

[@wabisabi6875]

Bravo! Time Team never ceases to amaze, entertain, and enlighten!

[@melodymakermark]

Rivers have shifted constantly over time. I was recently watching videos about the river boat Sultana tragedy north of Memphis, the ruins of which are no longer in the river, but under the soil of some Arkansas farmers field.

[@starmysticcatarot4928]

Another amazing episode! Always so fascinating to watch :)

[@davidg7454]

Fascinating. Why the heck was this program never aired in the USA? AGH! Glad I found it now.

[@luciadugliss3888]

I remember watching TT episodes on KZbin some yrs ago, so it was available but not very accessibly.

[@bunzeebear2973]

More a British Program.

[@paulbriggs3072]

This does show on some cable TV in the U.S.

[@craiglogistics2092]

This ship should be totally excavated and displayed in a museum for everyone to see

[@gertvanderstraaten6352]

I think they're leaving this on in the ground because there's already some other boats they excavated. It's amazing the kind of stuff they find here. In my town (Nijmegen, also a Roman town and allegedly the oldest still inhabited city) they found a Roman mummy in a sarcophagus. That is in the museum here now, along with a war chariot and a lot of other stuff. Every time there's a dig in certain areas of the city they ALWAYS find stuff.

[@redbarnz]

Love this video! Just the right amount of info and insights without stretching to a mini-drama!

[@lrayvick]

Amazing detective work. So many nuances. I really liked how they tried to tie the boat to commerce between the Rhine and England. And that it used a Mediterranean construction technique. Since the later boat was built differently, smaller without tennons, I wonder if the Romans decided the bigger design did not fit with Rhine commerce. Or maybe at this time the upper Rhine was not as firmly under Roman control as the lower Rhine so the boats did not travel so far upstream. Also, how were they towed - by cattle along the adjacent Roman road? It seems towing would limit the boats to the lower Rhine for delivering goods upstream. Maybe they used smaller simply made boats or rafts to bring goods from farther upstream. I thought about being an archeologist but studied engineering instead. All that digging in mud and dirt would have been trying. But how special to be involved in discovering the forgotten past. As far as the video, interesting to hear the Dutch with English at least as good as the English.

[@ianmankersen]

As a river boat captain, this makes me wonder if my vessel will ever be part of an archaeological dig. At the same time, if I am doing my job correctly my vessel should end up in a steel scrap yard and not a river bottom. It’s almost sad to think that without some kind of apocalyptic event, the record of history nowadays should be clear enough that excavation will no longer be necessary post industrial revolution.

[@patrickpaganini]

I'm not at all sure the history of our current time will be clear in the future. If you look back even to 120 years ago, details of how some early acoustic gramophones were made has now been lost. And digital information is even harder to store permanently than paper, wood or stone. Even if we don't suffer some disaster, I very much doubt even in a few 100 years whether people would know everything they would like to about our current time. I mean - think even of how so much television has been lost, and when it survives often it is in a very degraded quality (I'm thinking TV news footage from the 1970s, say).

[@scottfw7169]

@@patrickpaganini And then there's that thing where available hundred to several hundred year old historical documentation of various things from recipes to railroad car maintenance says that such-and-such was "done in the usual way" and the way was so widespread and usual that nobody bothered to specifically document it!

[@patrickpaganini]

@@scottfw7169 Yes - reminds me of Samuel Pepys going off at lunchtime to order his "ordinary".

[@tetreaulthank4068]

Incredible finds but my stomach just turned when I head them say they have cut this amazing part of Roman history in half to store it !! Oh My

[@chicks-on-the-loose]

Had they not done that it would rot away. This way they are able to preserve half of it as they found it.

[@alberthendershot1702]

It's is amazing how different people with different backgrounds come together to make a discovery that shows the human beings of long ago. I wish I could of had this when I was young.

[@brianmays4366]

This program was filmed in 2004 eighteen years ago a quality program before dumbing down began

[@topgazza]

Oh I do hope they dig it up sooner rather than later. Spectacular

[@elizabethjury2930]

Absolutely exciting. Wonderful to be able to date this Barge. 🌻

[@SaltyMinorcan]

Oh gosh! So amazing. I feel as if I worked with them for this victory!

[@kathyevans3251]

It's amazing what can be found.I really enjoyed it

[@harrybruijs2614]

It is not true that their is no natural stone in the Netherlands. In the East and South their is, but that is mostly limestone and that is not suited and used for reenforcing riverbanks then and now. You have to import for that purpose heavy hard stone like basalt or granite or as they do now produce it from concrete. Otherwise you can repeat the operation every ten years or so because it is soluble and very soft. Good for building houses and churches but not for building dijkes. (I have to mispell it, because otherwise the text is deleted by You Tube)

[@thesteelrodent1796]

In one of the earliest Time Team episodes they mention that no one has ever found a Roman boat. Since then dozens have been found all over Europe, in varying conditions, although I believe we're still missing some of the bigger ocean going vessels. It's unlikely we'll ever find those. After all the only reason we have Viking ships is because they were buried with their owners, and that was a few hundred years later

[@whitemanriding]

I groaned every time the chainsaw started .

[@paulbriggs3072]

The computer model of the boat at the end showed what I suspected they would do, which is to show perfectly straight, smooth, regularly spaced bottom frames, for example. BUT! The original boat showed very irregular sizes, spacing, and smoothness to the frames. In fact, most were very irregularly sawn out and the whole was quite rustic. The planks were probably less so but still not at all like the computer model of the boat suggests. The differences add up to night versus day.

[@stephenkeefer3436]

To put so much time and effort into this project, only to eventually cover it up again, is mind boggling. I just can’t fathom the logic.

[@nobodyspecial4702]

Twice, they dug it out and buried it not once, but twice.

[@anna-lisagirling7424]

One of the very best Time Team episodes, ever!

[@shovelhead4558]

Never cease to be amazed by finds of time passé hidden history is there it’s just finding it great viewing.

[@LadyDi49Diana2.0]

Absolutely fascinating!

[@Odonanmarg]

Been a while since I’ve watched TimeTeam. Forgot how much I enjoyed them.

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks for posting

[@edwardmorriale9358]

I would have liked to see the entire boat.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

You got to see Tony Robinson. Lol

[@user-bp7zo1di4m]

What an amazing find!

[@SindreGaaserod]

WHAT an episode. Wow. Fantastic.

[@dano4572]

AS ALWAYS,,,,,, BEAUTIFUL VIDEO WITH A BEAUTIFUL STORY

[@geldm]

This video is almost 10 years old. You can now have a look at ‘De Meern 1’ in the Museum Hoge Woerd in Utrecht. In the museum in the archeological theme park Archeon in Alphen aan de Rijn you can see ‘De Zwammerdam 2’.

[@dixietenbroeck8717]

Methinks it's more like *_SEVENTEEN_*_ YEARS OLD,_ as it was originally shown on BBC in 2006!

[@seanjustinkvalsvig1581]

This was great Thank you When they found out the tree ring date I was laughing with them

[@dstaff7373]

Great Content as Usual.

[@benjaminrush4443]

Great Viewing. Too bad more time is not allowed in some of these wonderful Documentaries. Watch & Enjoy. Thanks.

[@Le_Comte_de_Monte_Felin]

Thank you for presenting a relatively objective - 'here's what we found' video. Subbed to keep my antique brain thinking and growing!

[@carolinam4301]

Great episode! ❤

[@bunzeebear2973]

It is amazing how much actual work YOU don't SEE. A little bit of hand shovel work, wooden spatula work, drinking beer work. The housing complex could build around the dig site making it the last area to build on. Meaning they have time to dig it up...if they really wanted it. More people with more spatulas and plastic snow shovels. I don't know, maybe get lucky and find a slave still tethered to an oar? You do it while the sun shines, for a rainy day is just miserable. They dug out the inside. To dig out the outside of the boat(free it from the mud/clay takes much more work to remove much more material.)

[@rickmcdonald1557]

OUTSTANDING SHOW~!!! THANKS SO MUCH~!

[@ColRAPR]

Outstanding !!

[@rickcrippen5180]

Absolutely xlnt!

[@Step-n-Wolf]

If I had 3 days I would have a bigger crew to get the whole thing.

[@daviddutch8652]

Nice i live in the province of Utrecht. In the city of Amersfoort. Funny to see them somewhere i know.

[@BilgePump]

Very interesting. Not only the artifacts themselves but the geology of the area.

[@MartinMundorf]

one of the best episodes!

[@theexchipmunk]

What I find fascinating about the tools is just how much they look like tools that would have been around in the 1800´s to early 1900´s. I got some sheers and tools that look pretty much exactly the same. My father even has planes that look just like those roman ones.

[@bunzeebear2973]

The shears are identical to what can be bought today. They sheared sheep taking off the wool with a scissor like action. Those wood planes are used by some carpenters. Why I don't know but they work as good as a pot metal plane. Mind you the carpenters had multiple planes.

[@theexchipmunk]

@@bunzeebear2973 Wooden planes are used because of a few different reasons. Ease of adjustment, while one would think that the mechanism on metal planes is better it is actually more elaborate and can be more finnicy. While learning curve on wooden planes is steeper, once you got it you can set them with a hammer in seconds. Also the way they glide. Metal planes have a higher friction needing more force and at times lubrication, while wood on wood glides much easier. Together with the lightness of wooden planes they also make working for longer times much easier. The feedback you get from working is also supposedly better in wodden planes.

[@mikeraccooneyes4509]

An excellent video!

[@SiCkNeSs-ux5lb]

Awesome!

[@meeruisland]

Hadrian's wall was in Northumberland not Scotland...nice one Tony

[@tommeijer5979]

I was there with my colleagues from the Geological Survey of the Netherlands. I was keen to collect molluscs for an environmental reconstruction of the deposits. Unfortunately no molluscs were present.

[@phillipsmith4501]

I would like to see the look on your face if that bloody boat had made in Japan stamped on cheers mate from Australia.

[@cleverfitz779]

Great content

[@scothaynes7178]

This is fascinating. We think of ourselves being so advanced and smart. Well. others long before us show that we are standing on their shoulders

[@redrocket9861]

Oak Island would be so jealous with all that wood they found

[@screwthecabal6453]

Amazing

[@Friskee62]

Very Cool...

[@Mark-yb1sp]

Excellent narration.

[@mosads2986]

EXCELLENT JOB WELL DONE 👏 ✔️ 👍

[@MalcolmLambe]

Wonderful.

[@quintinstephens2573]

Does anyone else always keep their eye out for Victor in the background of shots for his little cameos?

[@yoyopg123]

Given that ship builders and woodworkers deliberately avoid using sapwood due to the inherent stability problems with it, finding it would be surprising to find much of it in the boat. So sad just to cover it up again after all that work.

[@quinnmccord6899]

Getting my Time Team Fix today! :)

[@king_cobra5492]

Cool!

[@garthl2954]

This gave me goosebumps!! 🤭🥰

[@bjw4859]

Baldric !, that's good enough for me to subscribe, I've just watched The Dig, so this should be interesting.

[@atropiaveteran]

Those wooden shoes though! LOL

[@busterbiloxi3833]

The Dutch are digging this and the Brits are trying to take credit for it.

[@marthabohnen115]

They always do!

[@alanrickett2537]

TT only go were invited so I expect you will find the dutch guys needed cash to continue their dig so you can thank the British for paying for it's discovery.

[@cshartley101]

Seems to me that they were invited by the Dutch because the Dutch ran out of money.

[@vincentdeleonjr1039]

nice work

[@lovelyhanbini]

Cool i’m living in Utrecht :)

[@clarabellcutting8745]

That’s so interesting

[@dave021]

Thanks

[@pbysome]

Mortice and tennon? That's a pegged joint and probably tapered to drawer the planks together.

[@geodezix]

They ought to bring back Time Team

[@audbertovelez130]

beautiful.. 🙏🙏🙏😎✌👍❤ belicimo

[@0371998]

Vraiment une belle émission sur la navigation et l'Histoire Européenne.

[@justinsmith847]

I love history 😃

[@johnnunn8688]

Define ‘perfectly preserved’! Oh, is it just like the perfect Mary Rose?

[@Research0digo]

@36:16 - I say this wider longer barge got stuck in a tight bend. It could have gotten high-centered on a sand or silt bar, so they just used it in a utilitarian way. Just like the far too huge cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal.

[@davidelliott5843]

I live near Exeter (a major Roman site) in South Western England. Parts of the original Roman city walls still exist and the original river bridge was preserved. I’d love to know if any Roman boats were found.

[@JohnSmiffer]

Get that metal detector out and find yourself a gladius.

[@TheGoldbaxter]

Seriously, you have so many people standing around, you could get alot more done if everybody would work!

[@Lucius1958]

so: c. 85 CE would put it in the reign of Domitian: possibly sunk in Trajan's time.

[@JoeBeer02]

Great video. It is ashamed that they just covered it back up.

[@tetreaulthank4068]

I’m sorry but I still can’t agree with taking a chain saw to that beautifully preserved piece of history and a huge section at that, I’m very familiar with dendrology in the dating of early historic homes and Never is more than a few bored samples or-cores needed from 6 to 12 inches in depth. But honestly I’m no Roman archeologist to be truthful.

[@ulrichkalber9039]

It was said that a wooden pole that was found on top of the rocks was not part of the boat because they believe the rocks have been fallen on the boat from the riverbank. What if the rock was cargo and the boat was in a process of unloading? After all the riverbank was filled with rocks that were brought in from elsewhere, most probably by boat. In that case the pole could have been part of the rig that was on top of the cargo. The position of the boat could be the result of an accident when unloading. It could be that the stern of the boat was secured to the riverbank, the unloaders started to unload the rocks where they could just throw them, not unloading the bow at the same time. The boat would than tilt stern up, the rounder rocks would roll down to the bow increasing the tilt which would then have caused more rocks to roll until the bow would have been under water and the ship would have been sunk. As the intent was to secure the riverbank from eroding and the boat probably was damaged in the sinking anyway, they then would have decided to leave it in place where it was.

[@whisped8145]

Not excavating and properly conserving this artifact is a crime against humanity.

[@nphipps9406]

just love the proof of history

[@harrybruijs2614]

The story of Caligula is myth deviced by his enemies in the Senate after his death and damnatio memoriae and made a monster of him . They have done the same with other emperors like Tiberius, Domitianus and Commodus etc., after mostly murdering them, who mostly were fyscaly prudent and wouldn't let them profit corruptly. It is likely that the soldiers just refused to embark , because Roman soldiers were unbelievable supersticious and afraid for the ocean. Of course a General with authority, like Vespasianus a view years later would have succeeded to convince them to go, but in that stage of his carreer he wasn't yet able to do it.

[@RedRocket4000]

Caligula and his sister likely they imprisoned them house arrest style alone together as young teens who did not know if today we die or not for years. The huge ships build in a lake for a very expensive show found. The rest we don't know. Caligula not in power long enough to build the favor of the common man like Nero who slandered by the upper classes had two different movements after his death named for him a sign of strong support from the people.