ORIGINAL ARTICLE Durham Boat––Defining a Vernacular Watercraft Type Ben Ford & Timothy Caza & Christopher Martin & Timothy Downing Accepted: 16 August 2018 /Published online: 12 September 2018 # Society for Historical Archaeology 2018 Abstract Durham boats were a vital part of eastern North American inland transportation during the 18th and 19th centuries, but are underrepresented in the ar- chaeological record. The discovery of a 19th-century shipwreck in Oneida Lake, New York, that closely resembles historical Durham-boat descriptions allowed for an analysis of this vernacular vessel type. The Onei- da Lake shipwreck is fully described and compared to primary historical accounts to establish it as an archae- ological example of the Durham-boat type. Extracto Los barcos Durham fueron una parte vital del transporte interior del este de Norteamérica durante los siglos XVIII y XIX, pero están subrepresentados en el registro arqueológico. El descubrimiento de un naufragio del siglo XIX en el Lago Oneida, estado de Nueva York, que se parece mucho a las descripciones históricas de barcos Durham, permitió realizar un análisis de este tipo de embarcación vernacular. El naufragio del Lago Oneida se describe por completo y se compara con los datos históricos principales, para establecerlo como un ejemplo arqueológico del barco tipo Durham. Résumé Les Durham étaient des bateaux constituant une part essentielle du transport continental de l ’Amérique du Nord aux 18e et 19e siècles. Ils sont malgré cela sous- représentés dans les relevés archéologiques. La découverte, dans le lac Oneida à New York, d’une épave du 19e siècle ressemblant de près aux descriptions historiques des Dur- ham, a donné lieu à l’analyse de ce type de bâtiment vernaculaire. L ’épave du lac Oneida est intégralement décrite et comparée aux principaux récits historiques à disposition pour déterminer qu’il s’agit d’un exemple historique d’ un type de bateau dit Durham. Keywords inland waterways . ship construction . 19th century . New York . Great Lakes Introduction Durham boats were instrumental in the economic develop- ment of the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes regions during the 18th and 19th centuries. These long, slender boats could each transport more than 20 tons (18 metric tons) of raw materials and finished products along the shallow rivers of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ontario, and, eventually, Wisconsin (Fig. 1), allowing the develop- ment of iron, salt, and other industries, and the expansion of Hist Arch (2018) 52:666–683 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-018-0135-6 B. Ford (*) Department of Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, McElhaney Hall, Room G-1, 441 North Walk, Indiana, PA 15705, U.S.A. e-mail: ben.ford@iup.edu T. Caza 145 County Route 84, West Monroe, NY 13167, U.S.A. C. Martin 167 N. Auringer Road, Constantia, NY 13044, U.S.A. T. Downing 36 Crestview Drive, West Monroe, NY 13167, U.S.A.