Irwell Log Boat

This log boat was carved from a single oak trunk and has been dated to about 1000-1200AD. It was excavated in good condition from 7 metres below the ground and around 100 metres from the River Irwell, suggesting the river’s course has altered considerably over a thousand years. It was found in 1890 when the Manchester Ship Canal was being excavated. If only those medieval fisherfolk and watermen could have imagined the scale and magnitude of the great, manmade waterway that would one day arrive in their locality. They thought their log boat a marvellous feat of engineering; the gigantic ship canal was far greater.

Every society thinks its technology top of the range and unrivalled. Only the Saxons who built their towns in the shadow of decaying Roman ruins might have thought their civilisation inferior to that which preceded it. We love gadgets, apps, AI and automation, but the New Earth will be far more advanced, developed and innovative than anything we could conjure or dream up. Earth's pleasures and accomplishments are pale parodies of a perfect paradise.