At the bottom of Norway's biggest lake, a discovery has been made of a shipwreck that took place somewhere between the 1300's and 1800's and, from what they have found, it appears that the ship is in pristine condition.
Researchers discovered the wreck during the execution of the Mission Mjøsa project, which aims to map the 140-square-mile (363-square-kilometer) lake bed using high-resolution sonar technology.
The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment led the mission two years after performing several remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, inspections of areas of the lake where large amounts of munitions had been dumped. The lake is a source of drinking water for about 100,000 people in Norway, according to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, so the munitions posed health risks. The shipwreck was spotted during the survey of the lake.
This is a truly amazing discovery that will give a real picture of the medieval past.
The recently uncovered shipwreck is located at a depth of about 1,350 feet (411 meters) and was captured in sonar imagery, a system that uses sound pulses to detect and measure the area below the water's surface. The imagery revealed the ship measured 33 feet (10 meters) long.
The freshwater environment and lack of wave activity at that depth had kept the vessel in pristine condition, except for corrosion of a few iron nails at each end of the ship. To Ødegård, the wearing away of the metal is a clear indication that the wreck has rested on the lake bed for quite some time, since corrosion would take hundreds of years to occur. Eventually, the ship may lose its structure when all of the nails disintegrate, he said.
In the stern section of the vessel, there are indications that there is a central rudder, a feature used for steering, which typically appeared no earlier than the late 13th century. Combining those two features, archaeologists were able to estimate the ship's construction as occurring no earlier than 1300 and no later than 1850.
As the excavation and recovery process begins, it's almost certain that a more accurate date for the wreck will be discovered.
The ship appears to have been built using a Norse technique, in which the planks of the body are overlapped with one another. This method was used during the Viking Age as a way to make the vessel lighter and stronger and is known as clinker construction.
Since the shipwreck was found in the middle of the lake, Ødegård believed the ship had gone down in bad weather. It's most likely that the ship used square-shaped sails, he added, that proved to be difficult to navigate for seafarers caught in extremely windy conditions.
It's always exciting to see discoveries like this one made. And this discovery indicates that there are likely even more shipwrecks to be discovered.
On the final day of the exploration, the researchers had sent down an ROV in an attempt to capture footage of the wreck, but they had to abort the mission due to bad weather. Ødegård aims to return next year to try again.
Meanwhile, the researchers continue to map out the bottom of the lake. To date, they have only mapped 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) and have much more to go. Ødegård said he anticipated more shipwrecks would be discovered.
"We could find vessels from since the beginning of human activity in the area. They could be present, and in good condition," Ødegård said. "You can't rule out anything."
As another historical fun fact, did you know that the Norwegian ships always had bar codes on the sides?
This is so they could Scan-da-navy in.
But seriously, modern technology is awesome and it's so cool to see history come to life like this.
