Slavic shipbuilding

The Slavic shipbuilding was an early medieval shipbuilding way between the 9th and 12th centuries in the area of the Baltic Sea occurred. It is closely related to other types of construction that have occurred in this area, such as the so-called “Viking” construction . They are assigned to the population groups of the Slavs and are divided into a western and an eastern design, which differ in their feature complexes and dating.

The main characteristics of Slavic shipbuilding were:

• The connection of several planks in clinker construction with each other with wooden nails.
• The caulking with the help of pet hair and particular (marsh) moss. In order to attach the caulking material, a groove was worked into both the inside and the outside of the planks so that they lay one on top of the other in the clinker state and the caulking material came to rest in this groove.

The mast was fixed either through a mast hole in the frame or with the help of a spur wood , which is known exclusively for Slavic shipbuilding.

Since it is very seldom or so far not verifiable that all features typical for this type of construction occur at the same time, but there is often agreement in several features, the Slavic construction method is defined by feature complexes. Two frequently occurring feature complexes are firstly the wood nailing of several rows of planks and caulking with moss (this complex of features is mainly to be found in the eastern areas and the finds mostly date to the 12th century, so they are a late form) and secondly the wood nailing of several rows of planks and Caulking with animal hair (this complex of features is mainly found in western areas and is dated to the 9th to 10th centuries). However, it should be noted here that not all finds of Slavic ships can be assigned to these feature complexes. There are boat finds east of the Vistula , where the assignment to Slavic shipbuilding can be determined by caulking animal hair and a mast hole in the frame, but the planks were nailed with iron nails. The great differences in the construction method can be explained by trade contacts throughout the Baltic Sea area and the naturally occurring resources for construction.

Slavic merchant ship: reconstruction of the wreckage of Schuby-Strand from the 10th century, in the Oldenburger Wallmuseum , Oldenburg in Holstein

Slavic shipbuilding ended in the 12th to 13th centuries. At that time, trade and exchange relations were so advanced that most of the ship's finds can no longer be clearly assigned to a specific type of construction. Examples of Slavic shipbuilding are the boat finds from Ralswiek and the wreck from Schuby-Strand .

literature

• Jochen Fircks: The replica of an old Slavic boat . An archaeological find from Ralswiek on Rügen becomes seaworthy. In: Archeology in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . tape 1 . Archaeological State Museum, Lübstorf 1999.
• Peter Herfert : Early medieval boat finds in Ralswiek, Kr. Rügen . In: Excavations and finds: News sheet of the state archeology . tape 13 , 1968, p. 211-222 .
• Oliver Nakoinz: The medieval wreck of Schuby-Strand and the shipbuilding traditions of the southern Baltic Sea . In: Archaeological correspondence sheet . No. 28 . Publishing house of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, Mainz 1998, p. 311-322 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oliver Narkoinz: The medieval wreck of Schuby beach and the shipbuilding traditions of the southern Baltic Sea. In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 1998.