Maritime Archaeology

Newsletter from Denmark

FPL 77 is part of a clinker vessel converted with flush planking, as discussed on p. 24. Dendrochronology suggest that it was built in the Øresund area shortly after 1590 AD and that it was converted with wood from the southern Baltic area. Photo: Jens Auer.

No. 26 Summer 2011

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CONTENTs:

From Paris to Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

stone Age in the Danish North sea sector . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Footwear from HMs st George . . . . . . . . . 9

Viking Age Iconographyand the square sail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Those Dammed Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Reused boat timbers from Aarhus . . . . . . 21

A clinker vessel converted . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

six ship graffiti from Himmelev Church . . 28

N0 . 26 suMMER 2011

Published 2011:

IsBN 978-87-992214-5-5Published bythe Maritime Archaeology Programme,university of southern Denmark

From Paris to Paris

When this newsletter goes to press, the National Museum in Copenhagen hosts the fourth Paris conference, short for pre-serving archaeological remains in situ . Frugal management poses many challenges . Mari-time archaeology has been strong in iconic excavations and becomes ever better at finding ways to integrate research in planning and development . The 1992 European Con-vention leads the way, and although much can be improved, the idea that impact miti-gation is where new knowledge is generated in the most profitable way, keeps ever more maritime archaeologists engaged and employed . But long-term management in situ is another matter . understanding and control of physical factors, the central theme of the Paris conference, is difficult enough . But so much is invisible . How to provide for public enjoyment? Protection in situ is the first option of the 2001 uNEsCO Convention, which just had its third meeting of states Parties in Paris .

The value of the invisible is central to the contributions by Ole Grøn and Liv Lofthus on North sea prehistory and reservoirs in inland Norway . More visible are the shoes of the St George, studied by Martin Lonergan . Equally tangible are the fragments of ancient shipwrightry from Aarhus and from the Darss, presented by the team of Lars Krants Larsen and Bente Grundvad respectively . Fragmentary or not, they are the bread and butter of ship archaeology – important complements to iconic ships! Highly visible are the images that Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and Ole Kastholm discuss in their relation to archaeological information . There is much to enjoy, and let us not forget: it is the benefit of enjoyment that makes archaeology and heritage management acceptable, including management in situ .

Thijs J. Maarleveld

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The excavation in 2000 and 2001 of the waterfront at Fiskergade in the old port (Gammelhavn) of Aarhus, along the south side of the Aarhus Å produced some reused boat timbers . The timbers were among more than 600 poles and planks that allowed for a detailed dendrochronological analysis at the National Museum in Copenhagen . On account of this, it has been possible to create a very tight and narrow chronology, with 19 dated phases . The excavation area, 1300 m2 in all, covers six cadastral plots .

Written sources indicate that the owners of the individual riverside plots had to maintain the waterfront . Each waterfront revetment was replaced as the need arose, and there only seem to have been three occasions when the waterfront revetment was replaced in all six plots simultaneously . Construction and frequency of replacement vary a lot from plot to plot . Wickerwork and poles with unsecured revetments of longitudinal planks are two of the variations and all sorts of timber have been used, including building material and parts of dismantled ships . Parts of at least eight different boats were recognised, of which we want to highlight three . using the data for a study on the lifespan of boats made extensive sampling attractive for the National Museum‘s dendrochronological laboratory .

Wreck 1Dendrochronology indicates that the

Reused boat timbers from Aarhus

oldest waterfront revetment was originally constructed in AD 1453 . It is partly built of the reused planks of a boat, sitting on the inside of oak poles . 28 fragments of the boat have been registered and sampled, 11 parts have been drawn on film at 1:1 . six of the planks have been preserved . The boat was in a very bad condition; only a few of the planks were still fastened together, and most of the planks were not preserved in their original length or width . The strakes have a width between 25 and 28 cm and a thickness of 2½ to 3½ cm . Only a couple of planks are preserved in their total length of approximately 2 m . One plank is more than 2 .4 m long, and that is not its full original length . All planks are of oak, and the majority is radially split . A few of the strakes are sawn . Whether the differences in conversion are due to repairs, or that we are dealing with two boats after all, cannot be determined . some planks have scarfs, typically with one or two rivets . Rivets along the strake's sides indicate clinker con-struction, but the distance between them varies a lot: 6, 10 or 20 cm between each rivet seems to be usual, but even on the same plank we see up to 10 cm difference . Whether these variations are due to repairs can not be

Strake ANX from wreck 1 with a double row of treenails. The piece was reused in a revet-ment dated to AD 1453, but was not dated by itself.

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determined . Frames have been fastened with treenails and the distance between these fastenings is frequently between 50 and 60 cm . There are signs of numerous repairs . Treenails have been renewed as much as three times . A single plank, illustrated on page 21, has a double row of treenails, pro-bably as a result of repair . The caulking (or luting rather) on the ‘lands’ between strakes consists predominantly of a thick string of animal hair coated in tar, but in two occasions it is twisted from two strings . The caulking in the scarfs is more unstructured, matted with animal hair and tar . Two oak planks have been used for tree-ring research, resulting in a felling date around AD 1440, 10 to 15 years earlier than the building of the revetment . One of the samples had part of the sapwood preserved .

Wreck 4Ten fragments of a clinkered boat were also collected from a revetment built between AD 1467 and 1480 . Here again planks are positioned on the inside of poles, in this case of oak and beech . Only a single plank was so well preserved that its original length could

be established . It is a sawn plank, approx . 155 cm long with a width of 12 cm and a thickness of 3 .5 cm . It thins out on one end and has been scarfed to another plank . It has rivets with a spacing of approx . 20 cm . In some places it seems that the rivet has been replaced, supposedly as a repair . There is no trace of treenail holes . The other, less well-preserved planks, shows the same pattern: they are between 10 and 14 cm wide, have a thickness around 3 .5 cm and are all sawn . Rivets are spaced at approx . 20 cm . One plank is 20 cm wide, but apart from the width it is similar to the other planks . Most of the planks display traces of caulking: mostly a string of twisted animal hair coated in tar . One of the planks, however, has a 5-string caulking of tarred animal hair mixed with just a little bit of vegetable fibres . One of the planks is preserved along with parts of the

caulking .

Wreck 5A revetment built between AD 1470 and 1480 included the best preserved ship parts of the excavation . Only about 5 m of this wharf has been examined, about half of its original length . Large parts of the side

Fragmented strake AGG from wreck 4, reused in a revetment built between AD 1467 and 1480. In this case, it has not been possible to date any pieces of the wreck itself.

Wreck 5 as documented in the excavation. Seven planks are dated and show that the boat probably is built around AD 1440.

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of the boat – more than 3 .2 m – are used as longitudinal planks behind rammed oak poles, but part of the boat‘s side is sawn into smaller pieces and placed on edge .

Again, it is a clinker boat . The strakes are worn, and there are clear signs of erosion on the outboard of the plank . Many of the planks are split at lap rivets and through treenail holes . When the boat‘s side was reused in the waterfront, all the planks were apparently still nailed together, although on excavation, the vast majority of rivets was so eaten away by rust, that most of the planks had more or less sunken down behind the planks situated in front it . The caulking between the strakes consists of a thick twisted string of tarred animal hair . The distance between the rivets fluctuates between 15 and 19 cm with an average of 17 cm . The distance between the treenail holes is approx . 62 cm on the upper planks, but at the bottom plank there seem to be treenails only for each second frame . All the planks are radially split . They seem to have a width of approx . 24 cm and a thickness of 2-3 cm . Ten scarfs are registered and the vast majority have two outboard rivets . The length of scarf varies, grouping around 15, 25 and 37 cm respectively . The caulking in the scarfs is invariably matted animal hair soaked in tar . In spite of the fact that the boat seems so worn, there are remarkably few obvious repairs other than two small strakes of beech .

Tree-ring research extended to 13 samples from seven planks . They derive from trees that have been felled around AD 1440 or a little later . None of the samples had sapwood preserved . It seems likely that the ship had an age of 30 to 40 years before it was reused in the revetment .

Other boat fragmentsTwo pieces of somewhat fragmented strakes (Wreck 2) have been found in the deposit behind a wickerwork revetment dated to spring AD 1457 . One is a radially split plank of about 2 cm thick with traces of two rivets approx . 20 cm apart . The second is a small

piece with a rivet and traces of animal hair caulking and tar . It can not be determined whether the two planks originate from the same vessel . The best-preserved plank is dated to after AD 1424, and accordingly the strake has a maximum age of 32 years .

A strake (Wreck 3) was found among reused timber from a house destroyed by fire, in a wharf built between AD 1467-80 . The piece has been preserved .

A strake (Wreck 6) was reused as a horizontal timber lying in a wharf built early in AD 1513 . The plank is 60 cm long, but not preserved in its original length and has a width of 23 cm . There are three rivets with a spacing of approx . 20 cm .

A T-shaped keel (Wreck 7) with a length of approx . 170 cm and with a maximum width of approx . 20 cm was reused in a bulwark that was constructed in spring AD 1548 .

Finally, a strake (Wreck 8) was found in the deposit behind a wharf that was also dated to the spring of 1548 . The somewhat damaged plank is sawn, and there are traces of rivets and a single treenail hole .

In summary, there are remains and smaller fragments from at least eight different boats, all of which must be regarded as smaller vessels . All the boats are constructed with clinker-built planks, the strakes are fastened with iron rivets with square roves, and the frame is always fastened to the planks with treenails . The caulking between the planks and in the scarfs is always animal hair from sheep, often nearly soaked in tar . One of the results in this research is the time span between the building of the boat and the reuse of the very same boat timber . In one case, the boat was approx . 10-15 years old when it was given up and reused in the con-struction of a revetment . In comparison to other research we would have expected a much longer time span of use . On the other hand, the two other dated boats are approx . 30 to 40 years old .

Lars Krants Larsen, Claudia Baittinger & Niels Bonde

Maritime Archaeology

Newsletter No . 26 summer 2011 from Denmark

IssN 1902-0708

EDITORs:

Thijs J . Maarleveld & Helle Kildebæk Raun

Lay-out: Jens Lorentzen & Ewa Britt Nielsen

DTP: Helle Kildebæk Raun

PRINT:

PE offset A/s, Varde

© Centre for Maritime and Regional studies

and authors 2011

Maritime Archaeology Newsletter from

Denmark is a continuation of Maritime

Archaeology Newsletter from Roskilde,

Denmark and is published once a year by:

The Maritime Archaeology Programme,

university of southern Denmark

at the Centre for Maritime and Regional studies

Niels Bohrs Vej 9 DK-6700 Esbjerg

Tel . +45 6550 4177 Fax +45 6550 1091

e-mail: hkraun@hist .sdu .dk

The Newsletter is supported by:

university of southern Denmark

Centre for Maritime and Regional studies

Fiskeri- og søfartsmuseet

The National Museum of Denmark

The Danish Institute in Athens

Øhavsmuseum Langeland

The Viking ship Museum

Holstebro Museum

strandingsmuseum st . George

Nordjyllands Kystmuseum

Moesgård Museum

Museum sønderjylland – Arkæologi Haderslev

The find circumstances indicate that the graffiti of Himmelev Church are documentary images of vessels of the early 12th century . An obvious source of inspiration is the sea traffic of Roskilde Fjord that is so well documented in the ship finds of Roskilde’s waterfront and the skuldelev barrier (cf . Bill, Gøthche & Myrhøj 2000; Crumlin-Pedersen & Olsen 2002) . These two assemblages hold the most important examples of war ships, i .e . the Roskilde 6, the skuldelev 2 and the skuldelev 5, all built between the 1020’s and the 1040’s and put out of use in the late 11th century . It seems therefore that only a few decades separate the graffiti from these archaeological finds . The Himmelev graffiti should therefore be regarded as valuable sources in reconstructing late Viking Age vessels . This could in particular be true for war ships .

Ole Thirup Kastholm

ReferencesBill, J ., M . Gøthche & H .M . Myrhøj 2000:

“Roskildeskibene” . T . Christensen & M . Andersen (eds): Civitas Roscald – fra byens begyndelse, p . 211-59 . Roskilde .

Crumlin-Pedersen, O . & Olsen O . (eds) 2002 . The skuldelev ships I . Roskilde .

Felbo, M . 1995: skibsbillederne i Himmelev Kirke . In: I . Christmas-Møller & G . Bruun Hansen (eds): Himmelev sogns historie, p . 64-65 . Roskilde .

Felbo, M . 1999: skibsbilleder i skandinavien 800-1400, kontekst og funktion, indhold og kildeværdi (bind I-III) . unpublished thesis, university of Copenhagen .

Heide, V . 2006: Låge og breie segl likevel? ulike strategier for å kombinere framdrift med segl og årer . I: T . Arisholm et al . (eds .): Klink og seil, p . 175-85 . Oslo .

Kastholm, O .T . 2009 . De gotlandske billedsten og rekonstruktionen af vikinge-skibenes sejl . Aarbøger 2005, p . 99-159 .

Planke, T . 2006 . Lave og brede seil allikevel? – En diskusjon av paradigmer og tolkninger av kildegrunnlaget . In: T . Arisholm et al . (red .): Klink og seil, p . 187-204 . Oslo .

The Archäologishes Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein asked a group of MAP students to dive in Schleswig harbour and collect parts of biti‘s, knees, and strakes of a medieval wreck disturbed by dredging. Here, Véronique Laplante hands a strake fragment to Jan Fischer of the Amt. Photo: Sila Sokulu.

No. 26 Summer 2011