Gedesby ship
The Gedesby ship in 1988 during work on ditches in Bøtø Nor, a former lagoon of the Baltic Sea on the island of Falster in Denmark , discovered.
Bøtø Nor was a bay about 15.0 km long and 1.0 km wide, separated from the Baltic Sea by the three islands of Langø , Bøtø and Bøtø Fang, so that the southern tip of Falster, which was not wide anyway, was even narrower. Since 1135 Gedesby was one of the most important towns on Falster. In 1551 it received a monopoly on the ferry connection to Germany, with the obligation to keep the four ferries, each with space for twelve riders with horses and equipment, available at all times. In 1552 Christian III. eleven Dutch the land they had diked. In 1571, Queen Sophie of Mecklenburg (1557–1631) ordered the king to build a ferry hotel ('kro ferry') in the harbor in order to have accommodation in Gedesby for herself and her family if they wanted to visit their former home. The island was a crown property until it was sold in 1766.
The ship was built as a single mast in the Nordic style. The C14 dates put it in the second half of the 13th century AD. This makes it Scandinavia's best-preserved medieval ship. The hull of the ship was clad with wickerwork, over which was a thick layer of organic material that was interpreted as animal excrement. Microscopic examination revealed a tangle of well-preserved straws, leaves, crushed grains, and other seeds and fruits. The ship had apparently been used as an animal transporter and the wickerwork served to protect the hull and give the animals a firm footing during the voyage.
Before the trip, the animals had roamed various habitats near the coast - fallow land, pastures, open woodland, mown cornfields, and swamps. The fact that all the seeds, including the cereals , were ripe and well developed indicates that the excrement came from animals that were transported in late summer or early fall. The archaeobotanical investigation indicates a position in southeast Denmark or on the southern Baltic Sea.
The archaeological open-air museum Middelaldercentret in Nykøbing Falster made a reconstruction of the Gedesby ship in 1995.
literature
- J. Bill & M. Vinner: The Gedesby ship under sail In: Maritime Archeology Newsletter from Roskilde, Denmark 1995 ISSN 0908-7885
- D. Robinson & B. Aaby: Pollen and plant macrofossil analysis from the Gedesby ship - a medieval shipwreck from Falster, Denmark. 3/3 1994 pp. 167-182.
- K. Gerdrup Agnete - En dejlig Skude (1999) ISBN 87-987197-2-6
Footnotes
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 37 ′ 10.8 ″ N , 11 ° 56 ′ 35.2 ″ E