A 3,600-Year-Old Reed Boat Provides Clues to Early Urbanization in Mesopotamia

By examining different materials buried along with the watercraft, experts could determine the age of the boat.

By Paul Smaglik
May 13, 2025 4:40 PM



Ruins of Mesopotamia, not associated with the study. (Image Credit: muratart/Shutterstock)

In 2022, archeologists unearthed what appeared to be the oldest intact reed boat. It was found buried in a sediment-filled former channel of the Euphrates River, near the ancient city of Uruk, in the Mesopotamian floodplain of what is now Iraq.

“The findings provide valuable insights into the utilization of Uruk's waterways, the evolution of its floodplain, and the broader processes that shaped early urbanization in Mesopotamia,” according to the conference paper.

Analyzing the Ancient Boat

Although the researchers had a rough estimate of the era the boat probably hailed from, they had difficulty giving it a more exact date, because its materials were contaminated by bitumen.

So, a group of scientists from the German Archaeological Institute turned to different technique, they explained when they announced the boat’s age at a European Geosciences Union meeting. They tapped into multiple materials surrounding it, rather than dating the reeds themselves.

“The excavation revealed that the boat was embedded in sand layers, surrounded by fine-grained floodplain sediments that are rich in artifacts and faunal remains,” according to the paper.

Understanding the Boat's Age

That collection of clues meant they could use multiple methods to home in on the boat’s age. On the sediment, they applied a technique to determine when it was last exposed to sunlight. On the bone fragments, they turned to the radiocarbon dating that they had originally intended to perform on the boat itself. And on the ceramic fragments, they used several pieces of archeological evidence to see where they fit on the timeline.

Taken together, these pieces of evidence put the boat’s age at about 3,600 hundred years — give or take a few hundred years in either direction. Knowing the boat’s age allows archeologists to put it into context with other discoveries from that era.

More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/a-3-600-year-old-reed-boat-provides-clues-to-early-urbanization-in