16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

116 16 th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology Darina Tully Saor-Ollscoil Na hÉireann (Free University of Ireland), Dublin, Ireland Reed and Rush Bundle Rafts in Ireland – Ethnographic and Experimental Nautical Archaeology Well into the 20 th century, primitive boats constructed of reeds and rushes per- sisted in use in the midland regions of Ireland. While there is little photographic evidence, some descriptions of various bundle rafts were collected by 19 th Cen- tury antiquarians and later by The Irish Folklore Commission (1935-1971). There were simple wading and swimming aids, round coracle type craft, and larger rec- tangular rafts. All of these bundle type rafts relied on the buoyancy of the material rather than hull displacement, and larger rafts seem to have been built around some form of framework. The most widely known of the bundle rush craft was the Cliath Thulca or ‘flood raft’, used to navigate the ‘Callows’, a flood plain area of the River Shannon. A number of replicas of the Cliath Thulca have been built. These replicas are quite elaborate and have mainly used modern techniques in their construction. It has been thought by many that reed or rush bundle rafts were generally of a simpler construction, with smaller dimensions. Reconstruction of some of these bundle rush rafts was recently undertaken using information sourced mainly from literary descriptions and ethnographic research. The Cliath Thulca and other reed and rush bundle rafts were considered a temporary or seasonal craft, mainly due to their buoyancy limitations and the fi- nite structural integrity of the bundles of reeds and rushes. With little skill needed in their construction, and an unlimited source of building material available, rafts of reeds or rushes could be replaced and built rapidly when required. Reed boats are usually associated with warmer climates, but water reeds, rushes and bulrushes (Phragmites Australis, Juncus Effuses, Schoenoplectus La- custris) thrive in damp temperate climates. Construction of bundle rafts of the type found in Ireland require fewer skills and resources than that of skin boats or dug-outs, and as such are likely to have been more numerous. They may therefore be worthy of more focussed study as a form of ancient transport for local mobility in Ireland and the wider Northern European inland waterways.