Galtabäck ship

The Galten , a replica of Galtabäck 1

The Galtabäck ship ( Swedish Galtabäcksbåten or Galtabäcksskeppet ) refers to two high medieval shipwrecks from the 12th century that were found near Galtabäck south of Varberg in Sweden .

The salvaged ship Galtabäck 1 is now in the Båtmuseet Galtabäck , a branch of Halland's kulturhistoriska museet ( Halland Cultural History Museum ) in Varberg. The ship Galtabäck 2 was made accessible through excavations, but is still in situ .

Galtabäck 1

The wreck was found by a farmer in 1928 while digging a trench in a field. The finder, a former seaman, informed the responsible authorities out of interest in the find, which after a few days carried out an archaeological investigation under the direction of Arvid Enqvist and recovered the wreck. Since the find had already been largely uncovered when the excavators arrived, this severely restricted the possibilities for investigation and dating. The ship was brought to Gothenburg and examined, reconstructed and exhibited in the local maritime museum.

The geologist Lennart von Post was responsible for the geological investigation and dating . Based on a pollen analysis , he dated the ship to the fifth century AD, making it the oldest known sailing ship in Northern Europe. This interpretation, which was also taken up by the ethnologist Philbert Humbla , caused a sensation in Sweden, but did not go unchallenged; This was followed by interpretations as a Roman ship or a transition stage between rowing boat and sailing ship.

In the 1940s, Harald Åkerlund re-examined the find. Based on its construction and saw blade traces, he classified it in the early High Middle Ages and suggested a Western European origin. A C-14 study in the 1970s supported its dating. In 1998 the parts of the ship were examined dendrochronologically . The youngest verifiable annual ring dates from 1174, taking into account the woodworking necessary for shipbuilding, the year of construction was estimated at 1195. The oak wood used comes from the Swedish west coast.

The 9.1 m long T-shaped keel has been preserved from the ship ; In addition, there were remains of 17 of the 21 frames and of about 14 clinker -built planks that were connected by iron rivets. The total length of the ship is estimated at 13.1 m, its width at 3.6 m, which would have made it 70 cm shorter and 21 cm wider than the "Wreck 3" of Skuldelev , a so-called Baltic Knorr . Galtabäck 1 is also classified as a merchant ship.

On the basis of the findings on Galtabäck 1, a swimming and sailing reconstruction in original size was created between 2005 and 2007, the Galten .

Galtabäck 2

The ship was discovered in 1908 by a farmer who wanted to create a drainage system. He used the wood he found as fuel. It was only when the ship Galtabäck I was salvaged in 1928 that the farmer realized the importance of his find and informed the archaeologists about it. Since they were under time pressure to rescue the other ship, they only dug an exploratory shaft. After they found out that Galtabäck 2 was of the same type as Galtabäck 1, but better built and in better condition, the shaft was closed. A professional documentation of the finds was omitted.

It was not until 1998 that the site was examined again to get a better impression of the wreck. For this purpose - after the ship had been located - a shaft was dug in the presumed central area of the ship. A part of the ship's side with three frames, the mast base and a section of the keel was exposed. Grain was found during the excavation, probably part of the former cargo.

literature

Niclas Björck: Arkeologisk undersökning av Galtabäck II. In: Marinarkeologisk Tidskrift. Vol. 21, No. 2, 1998, ISSN 1100-9632 , p. 5.
Aoife Daily: Dendrokronologisk undersøgelse af skibsvrag Galtabäck 1 fra Galtabäck, Sverige (= NNU rapport. 37, ZDB -ID 2520806-8 ). National Museum Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1998, ( online ).
Philibert Humbla, Lennart von Post : Galtabäcksbåten och tidigt båtbyggeri i Norden (= Göteborgs Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhälles handlingar. Ser. A: Humanistiska Skrifter. Episode 5, Vol. 6, No. 1, ZDB -ID 220470-8 ) . Elander, Göteborg 1937, (partly out of date).
Thomas Thieme: Galtabäcksbåten 70 år. In: Sven-Olof Olsson (ed.): Från Absalon till Järnmölle och Galtabäck - länkar i halländsk medeltid (= Forskning i Halmstad. 2). Högskolan i Halmstad, Halmstad 1999, ISBN 91-972579-1-5 .