Dugout canoes from Stralsund
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The Stralsund dugout canoes , also known as Strelasund dugout canoes , were three dugout canoes that were found in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund in 2002 . Two approximately 7,000 year old dugout canoes were considered to be the oldest surviving boats in the Baltic Sea region, the third, approximately 6,000 year old dugout canoe with a length of twelve meters was probably the longest known watercraft from this time.
The finds were professionally recovered and documented in 2002. It was not possible to restore the linden wood dugouts to their original dimensions. The find situation could have been presented for museum purposes; However, due to improper storage, it is no longer possible to reconstruct the dugouts.
Research history and findings
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In 2002, while construction work was being carried out on a retention basin for rainwater (mixed water storage) on a site on the banks of the Strelasund in Stralsund, in front of the Hansa-Gymnasium in Seestrasse , four meters below the surface , they came across old wood scraps that had been lying in the damp soil for thousands of years . Archaeologists from the State Office for Culture and the Preservation of Monuments in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania examined the previously unknown Stone Age settlement. They found shells of the great periwinkle ( Littorina littorea ), processed timber, core axes , harpoon tips and antlers that came from the time of the so-called Ertebølle culture , the last phase of hunters and gatherers in the south-western Baltic region. A Neolithic funnel beaker was also among the finds.
The three dugout canoes found are the oldest watercraft ever found in northern Germany. Two of the boats with sides made of limewood about the thickness of a thumb date from around 5000 BC. BC, the third around 4000 BC Chr. A sudden storm surge has probably inundated the settlement area. Earth masses flattened the dugout canoes and the organic remains from the Stone Age have been preserved to this day. Four men found room in the 60 centimeter wide and 12 meter long dugout canoe. The material is similar to that of the Mesolithic boats from Tybrind Vig in Denmark .
Rescue and Finding
Because the dugout canoes were made of very thin and soft wood, the unique find was to be professionally recovered, transferred to the State Archaeological Museum of the state capital Schwerin and preserved as quickly as possible - in the premises of the State Office for Monument Preservation in Schwerin. The finds should be subjected to a procedure customary in underwater archeology; During this process, the water bound in the wood is slowly replaced by an artificial wax and then freeze-dried, which ensures permanent stability.
The finds were filled with adhering soil on 36 steel pallets by the Office for Monument Preservation, wrapped in foil and transported to the wet wood conservation facility in Schwerin. However, the capacities for the conservation of the finds were insufficient there; the dugout canoes were initially kept moist by spraying them with water. This was intended as an emergency measure for a few weeks. The finds were damaged by drying out in the summer of 2002. When the building in which the boats were stored partially collapsed in 2004, it buried the remains of the finds under itself; the watercraft were largely rotten by this point. In the spring of 2004 the process of drying out had already progressed so far that the collapse of the ceiling above the finds was not the cause of the damage. From this point on the humidification was stopped.
Andreas Grüger , director of the Kulturhistorisches Museum in Stralsund, stated that he asked about the condition of the dugout canoes at regular intervals and that he always received evasive answers. In 2008 the archaeologist of the Schwerin authorities, Detlef Jantzen , explained to the Ostsee-Zeitung how the boats were going to be preserved in detail.
Destruction and Consequences
In March 2009, the World Heritage Advisory Board of the Hanseatic City of Stralsund sent an inquiry to the authorities in Schwerin regarding the current condition of the boats and asking when the finds would be returned to Stralsund. It was planned to present the boats in an exhibition. The city was then informed that the dugout canoes had been destroyed. The acting head of the authorities, Michael Bednorz , stated that the archaeological finds had been destroyed since 2004; At the University of Applied Sciences for Technology and Economics in Berlin , attempts have been made to save something from the boats since 2008 as part of a thesis.
The member of the SPD in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Klaus-Michael Körner , accused the former head of the state office for monument preservation, Friedrich Lüth , of being responsible for the loss of the valuable boats. Lüth rejected the allegations and stated that he was first informed on March 11, 2009 about the loss of Europe's oldest boat finds. In fact, as it became known in 2009, Lüth wrote to the Ministry of Culture on June 5, 2002: “In conclusion, I may remind you of the urgency of the matter. The dugout canoes begin to crumble! "And on July 16, 2002:" The sensational finds (...) have gradually got into a pitiful state. If no remedial action is taken soon, it will no longer be possible to conserve these finds. ”In March 2009, Lüth stated that after the discovery in 2002, all appropriate measures had been taken immediately to preserve the boats. He went on to explain that the dugout canoes had by no means dried up in 2004; “They were sprayed regularly until 2005”. After the partial collapse of the building, the finds were "probably forgotten". However, the boats are by no means rotten: “The small fragments of the dugouts are by no means irretrievably lost. They are just no longer wet, ”he told the radio station NDR 1 Radio MV . Rather, they are evenly dried so that they are stable, and not rotten and rotted.
From the middle of March 2009, the Schwerin public prosecutor's office checked whether there had been a breach of duty of criminal relevance; the proceedings were discontinued in September 2009 due to the statute of limitations.
The investigative commission set up by the state government came to the conclusion in May 2009 that the dugout canoes had fallen apart due to improper storage. The responsibility lies with the then management of the state office. According to the commission of inquiry, the Ministry of Education also failed to comply with its technical supervision in the years 2002 to 2004.
literature
- P. Kaute / G. Schindler / H. Lübke, the end Mesolithic / early Neolithic site of the Stralsund mixed water reservoir - evidence of early boat building technology on the Baltic Sea coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Jahrb. Bodendenkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 52, 2004, 221–241
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ "Age-old boat wreck due to improper storage destroyed," Reuters, March 10th 2009
- ↑ www.spiegel.de, March 20, 2002
- ↑ "Disgraceful loss: Stone Age dugout canoes", www.archaeologie-online.de, March 13, 2009 ( Memento from March 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ "Land has let the most valuable dugout canoes rot", www.stralsund.de, March 10, 2009 ( Memento of March 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ "Destroyed Stralsund dugouts become a case for the State Audit Office", ddp, March 11, 2009
- ↑ "Decay of the Stone Age Boats: State Parliament Asks", NDR Online, March 12, 2009 ( Memento of March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ "Stone Age Boats: Lüth rejects guilt", Hamburger Abendblatt, March 16, 2009
- ^ "Rotten dugout canoes: State Office knew everything", Ostsee-Zeitung, March 19, 2009
- ^ "Slowly rotten on the official channels", Schweriner Volkszeitung, March 17, 2009
- ↑ excavation. Investigations are ongoing . In: Südkurier of March 14, 2009
- ↑ A dugout scandal without consequences for state monument preservationists. In: Die Welt from September 29, 2009 ( online ).
- ↑ Processes around Stralsund dugouts from 2002 cleared up - expert group presents final report