Dugout canoe from Wasserburg on Lake Constance

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As a dugout canoe from Wasserburg on Lake Constance , a Bronze Age dugout boat was discovered in Wasserburg near the Bavarian shores of Lake Constance in the district of Lindau (Lake Constance) and recovered in 2018. The side walls have been lost over the centuries. The well-preserved floor of the dugout can therefore look almost like an oversized surfboard today.

Discovery

The boat, which is still around 7 meters long, but was originally around 12 to 13 meters long, was discovered around 2000 by a youngster while snorkeling, but at that time he did not attach any importance to the find. In 2015 the finder was able to rediscover the wreck. It was about 170 meters from the bank, opposite the mouth of the Eschbach . First, samples were taken to determine the age and the recovery was prepared. A dendrochronological determination by the Bavarian Society for Underwater Archeology (BGfU) and radiocarbon dating of the wood samples taken showed that the tree used for construction was around 1124 BC. Had been felled. The watercraft, which is around 3,150 years old, is made from half of an oak that is at least 1.20 meters thick . The dugout canoe was lifted from a depth of about four meters in April 2018 when the water was low in spring in a joint action by BGfU, the Archaeological State Collection in Munich and the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation .

The wooden boat, which has been surprisingly well preserved over thousands of years in the shallow water near the shore, is currently being preserved by the restoration workshops of the State Archaeological Collection in Munich . In a long process, the wood is first thoroughly cleaned and then the water bound in the cells is slowly replaced by a polymer ( polyethylene glycol ) that hardens and ensures lasting stability. This process is expected to continue until 2022. It is not yet clear where the rest of the boat will be open to the public in the future.

The dugout canoe, the bow of which is almost completely preserved and the stern of which was apparently more exposed to erosion, is still around 6.80 meters long and 1.05 meters wide in its current state.

It is possible that a Bronze Age pile dwelling settlement in the shallow water area was originally located near the site in the mouth of the Eschbach. The discovery of a human skull from the 10th century BC In close proximity to the dugout canoe would support this theory.

Scientific classification

Dugouts have been documented by archaeological finds since the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic). The Pesse dugout canoe , found in the Netherlands in 1955 , is dated from 14 C to the period between 6590 and 6040 BC. Dated. It is currently the oldest boat found in Europe. In 1993, a 7000 year old dugout canoe was discovered in central Italian Bracciano Lake ( Latium ). The dugout canoes in Stralsund (Baltic Sea coast) are also about 7000 years old.

In Federseeried , about 80 km north of Wasserburg, a well-preserved dugout canoe from the Neolithic Age was found in 2012, the Seekirch dugout canoe , as well as in several other Neolithic pile dwellings around the Alps.

The dugout canoe from Wasserburg is the oldest watercraft ever found in Lake Constance. However, a dugout canoe dating from the Early Bronze Age was discovered in the immediately north of the Degersee . In January 2019, human skull parts were also found near the site. The Bavarian Society for Underwater Archeology is investigating whether there is evidence of a prehistoric settlement.

See also

literature

  • Kai Letzner, reflections on the earliest shipping in southwest Germany. In: Archäologisches Landesmuseum (Ed.), Dugout canoe, cargo sailer, steamship. Early shipping in southwest Germany. ALManach 5/6 (Stuttgart 2000) pp. 51-67. ISBN 3-8062-1500-6
  • Gerda Leipold-Schneider (Red.): Shipping on Lake Constance. From dugout canoes to catamarans. Published by the Vorarlberg State Museum . culturis, Steißlingen 2005, ISBN 3-9809-7731-5 .
  • Markus Mainberger, Fleet in the Moor. Dugouts of all kinds. In: 4000 years of pile dwellings. Accompanying volume for the Great State Exhibition Baden-Württemberg 2016 (Ostfildern 2016) pp. 398-400. ISBN 3-7995-0676-4
  • Lars Kröger, Between the Main and the edge of the Alps. An overview of the archaeological remains of watercraft in southern Germany. In: Miroslav Chytráček / Heinz Gruber / Ján Michálek / Karl Schmotz / Ruth Sandner (eds.), Archaeological Working Group East Bavaria / West and South Bohemia, 22nd meeting in 2012 in Attersee - Mondsee. Fines Transire 22 (Rahden / Westf. 2013) pp. 111-130. ISBN 3-8964-6217-2
  • Tobias Pflederer, Heiner Schwarzberg , Robert Angermayr, Egon Blumenau, Franz Herzig: The Bronze Age dugout canoe from Wasserburg on Lake Constance. Bavaria's oldest watercraft. Bavarian Archeology 1/2019, pp. 20-24 , ISSN 1869-5566.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The surfboard from the Bronze Age . (South German edition of April 15, 2018 with 2 photos)
  2. ↑ Exciting find in the Bavarian Lake Constance (January 28, 2017)
  3. ↑ Boat recovered from Lake Constance after 3100 years (Swabian edition of April 12, 2018 with video of the recovery, 36 seconds, prehistory to the find, also reference to pile dwellings in Unteruhldingen)
  4. ↑ Oldest Bavarian boat - salvage of the dugout canoe from the Bronze Age (April 11, 2018)
  5. ↑ SK: Life and Knowledge: The ancestor of Lake Constance shipping: a 3150 year old dugout canoe is now being preserved. May 10, 2018, accessed May 3, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Hildegard Nagler: Hope for the return of the dugout canoe flared up. Retrieved May 26, 2020 .
  7. ↑ A dugout canoe from the Bronze Age in Lake Constance - a piece of history is lifted (swr, April 12, 2018)
  8. ↑ Hope for the return of the dugout canoe flared up (May 23, 2020)
  9. ^ Finds in front of Wasserburg: Researchers are looking for a 3000 year old settlement. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Martin Vieweg: Mysterious finds in Lake Constance. In: Wissenschaft.de. May 7, 2020, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Maria Antonietta Fugazzola Delpino, Mario Mineo: La piroga neolítica del lago di Bracciano ( "La Marmotta 1") , in: Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 86 ns IV (1995) 197-266.
  12. ↑ Found a dugout canoe from the Neolithic (swp.de, accessed April 13, 2018)
  13. ^ Martin Mainberger: An Early Bronze Age Logboat from Degersee, Southern Germany. In: The International Journal of Nautical Archeology . tape 31 , no. 1 . Wiley, 2009, ISSN  1095-9270 , pp. 3-12 .
  14. ↑ Hildegard Nagler: Dugout studies confirm: Wasserburg is older than expected. Retrieved October 20, 2019 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 ′ 54 ″  N , 9 ° 38 ′ 16 ″  E