"As for your second point, why do you readily discard the idea of plank boats being used in the Neolithic? As Mr Lifter points out, we know the carpenters were up to the job and the materials were readily available. There was obviously a decent knowledge of seamanship in the Neolithic"

I am not at all sure that I agree with Mr Lifter on the issue of tools. Stone tools could certainly have split logs into planks, but how far would you get without metal adzes to plane the planks smooth? Would flint really have been effective and is there evidence of well shaped and trimmed Neolithic planks from elsewhere? I certainly agree that Neolithic seamanship would have been of the highest standard. Bringing livestock over from Europe and negotiating the Channel, the North Sea, Irish Sea, Pentland Firth or just about any of our coastal waters would have been extremely hazardous. Just look what happened to the first fleets of Caesar and William.

I'll just return the question to you Fitz - why are you so reluctant to consider that skin boats were used in the Neolithic? If I understand Nigel's original post, it was about evidence of Neolithic plank boats built without nails. We know that there is plenty of evidence for sewn plank boats made without nails. They were made by trimming planks, boring holes with an auger (metal or flint?) and then sewing them together with roots. The real question is - when.