Abstract
In 2012, a mechanical excavator unearthed the remains of a 14th-century boat while restoring the moat at Vordingborg Castle, Denmark. The boat-find was documented and both dendrochronological and metallurgical investigations were conducted. The trees that were used to build the boat were felled 1355–1366 in the region around Gdańsk, Poland. However, the building of the boat was probably conducted near Vordingborg Castle in the second half of the 14th century. It is suggested that the boat was built, mainly using imported leftover materials originally intended for crafting the castle’s interior features. Concluding the article, we discuss 14th-century Baltic timber trade.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 97-115 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| ISSN | 1057-2414 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Aoife Daly’s research project Northern Europe’s Timber Resource–Chronology, Origin and Exploitation (TIMBER) has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 677152). Thanks to Christian Lemée for his detailed excavation rapport. Thanks to Vibeke Bischoff for building the reconstruction model and for commenting on article drafts.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Nautical Archaeology Society.
Keywords
- 14th-century Baltic power politics
- 14th-century boat-find
- 14th-century boatbuilding
- Denmark
- exploitation of resources
- medieval timber trade
- Vordingborg Castle