Haithabu 1
The Viking ship Haithabu 1 , salvaged in 1979 , was considered the world's longest Viking ship for almost 20 years . In 1997 the Roskilde 6 , one of nine wrecks from the late Viking Age found in the port of Roskilde in Denmark , took on this title.
The Haithabu 1, named after the first of two wreckage finds, was built with excellent workmanship from the best materials in the Nordic clinker construction method . In the end, it sank in an attack on the city of Haithabu in Schleswig-Holstein , near the point where it was built.
Finds
Finds had already been made in the port of Haithabu at the beginning of the 1950s. In addition, piles were found and next to them the wreck of the ship. Some wood was removed before the wreck was marked with poles and secured. A seismic survey of the port was carried out between 1979 and 1981 with an echo sounder . Not only metal objects such as axes and swords were found, but also wooden objects such as the fragmentary wreck 2 and a large cargo ship (wreck 3).
Salvage
In 1979 the ship was excavated with the help of a sheet pile box measuring 22 × 8 m. The timber was exposed from movable gangways above the wreck. During the recovery, the silted wood had to be kept constantly wet. The remaining part of the wreck consisted mainly of the port side . The ship was badly charred up to the waterline, but the remaining wood was sufficient for a reconstruction. A partial reconstruction of the ship in original size is exhibited in the Viking Museum Haithabu .
The recovery of the wreck, its conservation and the reconstruction was performed after the Viking vessel were of the film-AG in the Student Schleswig-Holstein led by Kurt Denzer with 16 mm film held. The 30-minute documentary Das Haithabu-Schiff was released in 1985 as the result of this film documentation .
construction
Haithabu wreck 1 had 24 to 26 row benches. The wreck was about 16 meters long, but the ship was originally much longer. The estimate of the original length is based on comparisons with other Viking ships. Other wrecks of the period have been known to have their greatest breadth amidships or a little beyond. This gave an initial estimate of the length, which was between 26 and 32 meters. Due to the preserved installation position of the mast, a more precise specification of the total length could be made. The ship reconstructed in the drawing was 30.9 meters long. Based on the planks and fixtures, the width was approximately 2.7 m and the height 1.5 m.
According to the traditional Nordic clinker construction, all planks were connected to one another with iron rivets, in this case unusually close at regular intervals of 10 cm. The planks were made of oak and were up to 37.5 cm wide. Their thickness was between 1.2 and 2.4 cm. The seams were sealed ( caulked ) with wool soaked in tar .
Dating
It was evident from the start that the ship had burned and sunk when the city sank, as the remains of the ship were discovered over older layers of rubble and debris from the city. The dendrochronological dating showed that the trees from which the ship was built, about 985 n. Chr had been like.. The samples also showed that the trees in the Schleswig region had grown. During an attack on Haithabu in 1050, at the end of the Viking Age , the ship was filled with hay or brushwood and deliberately set on fire.
literature
- Ole Crumlin-Pedersen: Viking-age ships and shipbuilding in Hedeby - Haithabu and Schleswig . (Ships and boats of the north, 2). Roskilde / Schleswig 1997, ISBN 87-85180-30-0
- Sven Kalmring: Der Hafen von Haithabu From the series: Die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, Volume 14. Publisher: Wachholtz, Neumünster 2010, ISBN 978-3-529-01414-7
Web links
- Project NAVIS I: Haithabu 1 (English)
- The longship from Haithabu Harbor (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roskilde 6 ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at vikingeskibsmuseet.dk (Danish)
- ↑ Roskildeskibene ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at vikingeskibsmuseet.dk (Danish)
Coordinates: 54 ° 29 '48.3 " N , 9 ° 34' 13.9" E