Delivering the Deep: Maritime Archaeology for the 21st Century: Selected Papers From IKUWA 7, 2024
The royal Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden, launched in 1485, was among the earliest norther... more The royal Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden, launched in 1485, was among the earliest northern European warships purpose-built to carry artillery. However, King Hans employed his vessel as far more than a weapons platform. The ship was his ‘floating castle’, fulfilling all the various purposes of a land redoubt. At its loss in 1495 enroute to a political summit in Kalmar, where Hans expected to be crowned king of Sweden, it was his mobile seat of government, an instrument combining hard and soft power functions. Recent excavations of Gribshunden reveal its martial aspects: artillery, small arms (including several crossbows and hand guns) and personal armour. Soft power is reflected more subtly in other artefacts: silver coins; secular artwork depicting flowers, animals and mythical beasts; and prestige provisions, including copious amounts of exotic imported spices and a large sturgeon. Continuing excavations of the wreck are revealing the structure of the ship itself, while providing insights into the social division of space aboard this royal castle at sea. Combined with archival documents, analyses of all these artefacts deliver deep insight into the people aboard the ship and the late Mediaeval period through which they travelled.
We present an interim archaeological report on the ship- wreck of the Danish-Norwegian flagship G... more We present an interim archaeological report on the ship- wreck of the Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden. Built in 1485, extensively employed by King Hans as his floating castle, and ultimately lost in June 1495 en route to Kalmar, the ship carried people and material selected to further the political goal of re-unifying the Nordic region. Three field campaigns led by Lund University and Blekinge Museum since 2019 have delivered a compelling assemblage of mun- dane artefacts and high-status items, some without prec- edent, and all conveying new information beyond the events of the ship’s loss. Highlights include wooden casks, a milled tankard, a purse of silver coins, artillery and accoutrements, several crossbows and accessories, mail armour elements, and an assortment of exotic spices. Laboratory analyses of these and other finds allow new avenues of inquiry and pro- vide deep insights into the late medieval world. This manu- script is derived from a conference presentation. It delivers an overview of recent scientific results, alerts readers to detailed studies already published, and offers waypoints to ongoing research threads. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Maritime archaeology excavations, even in a more complex environment, have the same objectives an... more Maritime archaeology excavations, even in a more complex environment, have the same objectives and requirements as terrestrial ones: documenting digging operations to ana- lyze data in the best way, interpreting it, and producing new knowledge for the benefit of multiple communities. 3D doc- umentation and management methodologies have spread widely among practitioners; however, 3D comprehensive tools for scholarly publications still require development. This article contributes to the discussion on archaeological data management and its need to encompass every aspect of the archaeological practice (Kansa & Kansa 2021). It presents the evolution of the documentation and data management strategies employed within the multidisciplinary project at the shipwreck site of Gribshunden (Rönnby 2021), profoundly conditioned by the project’s goals to optimize collection and analysis of its multidisciplinary nature. The use of the Archaeological Interactive Report (AIR) represents the most suitable solution for achieving such goals, as it addresses the issue of scattered data and allows for maintaining the connec- tion between archaeological datasets and their interpretation and publication, which is crucial for performing archaeologi- cal Digital Data Curation (Dallas 2015a).
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Maritime archaeological investigations of the wreck of the medieval warship Gribshunden (1495), f... more Maritime archaeological investigations of the wreck of the medieval warship Gribshunden (1495), flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway, have revealed diverse artifacts including exotic spices imported from far distant origins: saffron, ginger, clove, peppercorns, and almond. The special circumstances of the vessel's last voyage add unique context to the assemblage. Gribshunden and an accompanying squadron conveyed the king, courtiers, noblemen, and soldiers from Copenhagen to a political summit in Kalmar, Sweden. At that conference, Hans expected the Swedish Council to elect him king of Sweden, and thereby fulfill his ambition to reunify the Nordic region under a single crown. To achieve this, Hans assembled in his fleet and particularly aboard his flagship the people and elite cultural signifiers that would convince the Swedish delegation to accept his rule. Along the way, the ships anchored near Ronneby, Blekinge. Written sources record that an explosion and fire caused Gribshunden to sink off Stora Ekö n (Great Oak Island). Exotic spices were status markers among the aristocracy in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea during the Middle Ages (1050-1550 CE). Until the Gribshunden finds, these extravagances have rarely or never been represented archaeologically. Evidence of their use and consumption in medieval Scandinavia has been limited to sparse written references. We present here the botanical remains from the Gribshunden shipwreck and compare them to previous archaeobotanical finds from the medieval Baltic region. These opulent status symbols traveled with a medieval king en route to a major historical event. The combination of textual and archaeological evidence allows a novel analytical view of the social environment in which these luxurious foods were consumed.
High-resolution Optical Imaging for Deep-water Archaeology Hanumant Singh, Christopher Roman, Osc... more High-resolution Optical Imaging for Deep-water Archaeology Hanumant Singh, Christopher Roman, Oscar Pizarro, Brendan Foley, Ryan Eustice, and Ali Can The physical characteristics of the medium lead to fundamental constraints on high-resolution imaging underwater ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Oct 1, 2020
In 1495, the royal Danish ship Gribshunden sank in the Baltic Sea, near the town of Ronneby. Duri... more In 1495, the royal Danish ship Gribshunden sank in the Baltic Sea, near the town of Ronneby. During archaeological excavations in 2019, a wooden barrel submerged inside the shipwreck revealed the almost complete and well-preserved remains of a sturgeon fish. In this paper, we present the find in terms of species identification, estimation of number of individuals, size reconstruction and butchery marks. Results show that the remains most likely derive from one specimen of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). Species identification was made on morphological basis as well as ancient DNA analysis, using mitochondrial DNA for identification. Based on the location of chop marks, we argue that the sturgeon was chopped to larger pieces, before it was put in a wooden barrel and stored in the hold of Gribshunden. The high value of sturgeon during the late medieval period is key to understand its incidence on the royal flagship Gribshunden. The Danish King Hans was onboard the ship, on his way to Kalmar for a diplomatic summit to claim the Swedish throne. The ship carried valuable cargo, intended to impress the Swedish noblemen awaiting the king. The Gribshunden sturgeon is among the first examples derived from an underwater context, at least in the Baltic Sea. By the sheer quantity of the remains as well as its high contextual integrity, it is unique in a Scandinavian context.
... MacGregor have been good friends, particularly Beth Sievert, Lauren Bradford, Jon Plaue, Tom ... more ... MacGregor have been good friends, particularly Beth Sievert, Lauren Bradford, Jon Plaue, Tom Slowe, Ronojoy Chakrabarti, Gabriel Blanton, and Juan Hermosillo. Margaret Watters was my close friend and confidant through two terrific years. ...
This paper describes an expedition to map a first century B.C. ship wreck off the coast of the Gr... more This paper describes an expedition to map a first century B.C. ship wreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a high resolution stereo imaging system. The wreck, first discovered in 1900, has yielded a wealth of important historical artefacts from two previous interventions, including the renowned Antikythera mechanism. The deployments described in this paper aimed to map the current state of the wreck site prior to further excavation. Over the course of 10 days of operation, the AUV completed multiple dives over the main wreck site and other nearby targets of interest. This paper describes the motivation for returning to the wreck and producing a detailed map, gives an overview of the techniques used for multi-session Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) to stitch data from two dives into a single, composite map of the site and presents preliminary results of the mapping exercise.
The Royal flagship Gribshunden carried the Danish King Hans on its way to the city of Kalmar in S... more The Royal flagship Gribshunden carried the Danish King Hans on its way to the city of Kalmar in Sweden when the ship sank in the summer of 1495. The ship caught fire while anchored north of the Stora Ekö Island and sank to the seafloor, where it lies to this day. The wreck was rediscovered in the 1970s and is remarkably well preserved. Since 2001, scientific investigations have been performed on the wreck by various organizations. In total, 13 dendrochronological samples from different parts of the ship construction have been collected and analyzed with standard dendrochronological methods with respect to age and provenance. The results show that all dated samples could have been felled during the winter season of 1482/83, although only one sample contains sapwood and waney edge. The highest correlations are obtained from reference chronologies that originate from the River Meuse drainage area, with correlations peaking around the city of Namur in Belgium. Most likely, the ship was constructed in a shipyard close to the mouth of the River Meuse in the southern Netherlands. It seems King Hans realized the potential of the new ship type represented by Gribshunden, but his shipwrights did not have the knowledge to build such a ship in Denmark. Instead, he purchased the ship from abroad. This study highlights late medieval economic and political connections throughout northern Europe.
In this paper we examine underwater imaging for archaeology and especially the use of multiple ac... more In this paper we examine underwater imaging for archaeology and especially the use of multiple acoustic and optical sensors at varying degrees of resolution for reconnaissance and mapping sites on the seafloor. Specifically) 1velook at the role of side-scan sonar for locating suitable sites of interest) which n1ay then be ntapped quantitatively with bathymetric sonars. lVe also discuss the role of conventional digital and video cameras in providing high resolution redundant imagery) and how) after compensating for lighting and other artifacts) such imagery may be assembled into a photomosaic of a lat;ge site.
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Jul 3, 2022
Wooden casks were used extensively to transport goods in medieval Europe but have been largely ov... more Wooden casks were used extensively to transport goods in medieval Europe but have been largely overlooked in Scandinavian marine archaeological studies. We present a study of casks recovered from the Danish-Norwegian royal flagship Gribshunden, which sank in the summer of 1495 outside Stora Ekö Island in southeastern Sweden. During excavations in 2020-2021, archaeologists recovered 135 wooden staves and heads for dendrochronological analysis. Seventy-nine percent of the samples were successfully dated and provenanced from seven different timber source areas, predominantly southeastern Baltic (59%) and Scania (22%). These results suggest the geographical extent of the late medieval Nordic timber trade. Components from several source areas were incorporated within individual casks, suggesting staves were bulk goods transported to production centres for cooperage. The dating results indicate the life span of medieval casks was just a few years. This study highlights the untapped potential of wooden casks for a wide range of research fields.
Delivering the Deep: Maritime Archaeology for the 21st Century: Selected Papers From IKUWA 7, 2024
The royal Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden, launched in 1485, was among the earliest norther... more The royal Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden, launched in 1485, was among the earliest northern European warships purpose-built to carry artillery. However, King Hans employed his vessel as far more than a weapons platform. The ship was his ‘floating castle’, fulfilling all the various purposes of a land redoubt. At its loss in 1495 enroute to a political summit in Kalmar, where Hans expected to be crowned king of Sweden, it was his mobile seat of government, an instrument combining hard and soft power functions. Recent excavations of Gribshunden reveal its martial aspects: artillery, small arms (including several crossbows and hand guns) and personal armour. Soft power is reflected more subtly in other artefacts: silver coins; secular artwork depicting flowers, animals and mythical beasts; and prestige provisions, including copious amounts of exotic imported spices and a large sturgeon. Continuing excavations of the wreck are revealing the structure of the ship itself, while providing insights into the social division of space aboard this royal castle at sea. Combined with archival documents, analyses of all these artefacts deliver deep insight into the people aboard the ship and the late Mediaeval period through which they travelled.
We present an interim archaeological report on the ship- wreck of the Danish-Norwegian flagship G... more We present an interim archaeological report on the ship- wreck of the Danish-Norwegian flagship Gribshunden. Built in 1485, extensively employed by King Hans as his floating castle, and ultimately lost in June 1495 en route to Kalmar, the ship carried people and material selected to further the political goal of re-unifying the Nordic region. Three field campaigns led by Lund University and Blekinge Museum since 2019 have delivered a compelling assemblage of mun- dane artefacts and high-status items, some without prec- edent, and all conveying new information beyond the events of the ship’s loss. Highlights include wooden casks, a milled tankard, a purse of silver coins, artillery and accoutrements, several crossbows and accessories, mail armour elements, and an assortment of exotic spices. Laboratory analyses of these and other finds allow new avenues of inquiry and pro- vide deep insights into the late medieval world. This manu- script is derived from a conference presentation. It delivers an overview of recent scientific results, alerts readers to detailed studies already published, and offers waypoints to ongoing research threads. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Maritime archaeology excavations, even in a more complex environment, have the same objectives an... more Maritime archaeology excavations, even in a more complex environment, have the same objectives and requirements as terrestrial ones: documenting digging operations to ana- lyze data in the best way, interpreting it, and producing new knowledge for the benefit of multiple communities. 3D doc- umentation and management methodologies have spread widely among practitioners; however, 3D comprehensive tools for scholarly publications still require development. This article contributes to the discussion on archaeological data management and its need to encompass every aspect of the archaeological practice (Kansa & Kansa 2021). It presents the evolution of the documentation and data management strategies employed within the multidisciplinary project at the shipwreck site of Gribshunden (Rönnby 2021), profoundly conditioned by the project’s goals to optimize collection and analysis of its multidisciplinary nature. The use of the Archaeological Interactive Report (AIR) represents the most suitable solution for achieving such goals, as it addresses the issue of scattered data and allows for maintaining the connec- tion between archaeological datasets and their interpretation and publication, which is crucial for performing archaeologi- cal Digital Data Curation (Dallas 2015a).
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Maritime archaeological investigations of the wreck of the medieval warship Gribshunden (1495), f... more Maritime archaeological investigations of the wreck of the medieval warship Gribshunden (1495), flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway, have revealed diverse artifacts including exotic spices imported from far distant origins: saffron, ginger, clove, peppercorns, and almond. The special circumstances of the vessel's last voyage add unique context to the assemblage. Gribshunden and an accompanying squadron conveyed the king, courtiers, noblemen, and soldiers from Copenhagen to a political summit in Kalmar, Sweden. At that conference, Hans expected the Swedish Council to elect him king of Sweden, and thereby fulfill his ambition to reunify the Nordic region under a single crown. To achieve this, Hans assembled in his fleet and particularly aboard his flagship the people and elite cultural signifiers that would convince the Swedish delegation to accept his rule. Along the way, the ships anchored near Ronneby, Blekinge. Written sources record that an explosion and fire caused Gribshunden to sink off Stora Ekö n (Great Oak Island). Exotic spices were status markers among the aristocracy in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea during the Middle Ages (1050-1550 CE). Until the Gribshunden finds, these extravagances have rarely or never been represented archaeologically. Evidence of their use and consumption in medieval Scandinavia has been limited to sparse written references. We present here the botanical remains from the Gribshunden shipwreck and compare them to previous archaeobotanical finds from the medieval Baltic region. These opulent status symbols traveled with a medieval king en route to a major historical event. The combination of textual and archaeological evidence allows a novel analytical view of the social environment in which these luxurious foods were consumed.
High-resolution Optical Imaging for Deep-water Archaeology Hanumant Singh, Christopher Roman, Osc... more High-resolution Optical Imaging for Deep-water Archaeology Hanumant Singh, Christopher Roman, Oscar Pizarro, Brendan Foley, Ryan Eustice, and Ali Can The physical characteristics of the medium lead to fundamental constraints on high-resolution imaging underwater ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Oct 1, 2020
In 1495, the royal Danish ship Gribshunden sank in the Baltic Sea, near the town of Ronneby. Duri... more In 1495, the royal Danish ship Gribshunden sank in the Baltic Sea, near the town of Ronneby. During archaeological excavations in 2019, a wooden barrel submerged inside the shipwreck revealed the almost complete and well-preserved remains of a sturgeon fish. In this paper, we present the find in terms of species identification, estimation of number of individuals, size reconstruction and butchery marks. Results show that the remains most likely derive from one specimen of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). Species identification was made on morphological basis as well as ancient DNA analysis, using mitochondrial DNA for identification. Based on the location of chop marks, we argue that the sturgeon was chopped to larger pieces, before it was put in a wooden barrel and stored in the hold of Gribshunden. The high value of sturgeon during the late medieval period is key to understand its incidence on the royal flagship Gribshunden. The Danish King Hans was onboard the ship, on his way to Kalmar for a diplomatic summit to claim the Swedish throne. The ship carried valuable cargo, intended to impress the Swedish noblemen awaiting the king. The Gribshunden sturgeon is among the first examples derived from an underwater context, at least in the Baltic Sea. By the sheer quantity of the remains as well as its high contextual integrity, it is unique in a Scandinavian context.
... MacGregor have been good friends, particularly Beth Sievert, Lauren Bradford, Jon Plaue, Tom ... more ... MacGregor have been good friends, particularly Beth Sievert, Lauren Bradford, Jon Plaue, Tom Slowe, Ronojoy Chakrabarti, Gabriel Blanton, and Juan Hermosillo. Margaret Watters was my close friend and confidant through two terrific years. ...
This paper describes an expedition to map a first century B.C. ship wreck off the coast of the Gr... more This paper describes an expedition to map a first century B.C. ship wreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a high resolution stereo imaging system. The wreck, first discovered in 1900, has yielded a wealth of important historical artefacts from two previous interventions, including the renowned Antikythera mechanism. The deployments described in this paper aimed to map the current state of the wreck site prior to further excavation. Over the course of 10 days of operation, the AUV completed multiple dives over the main wreck site and other nearby targets of interest. This paper describes the motivation for returning to the wreck and producing a detailed map, gives an overview of the techniques used for multi-session Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) to stitch data from two dives into a single, composite map of the site and presents preliminary results of the mapping exercise.
The Royal flagship Gribshunden carried the Danish King Hans on its way to the city of Kalmar in S... more The Royal flagship Gribshunden carried the Danish King Hans on its way to the city of Kalmar in Sweden when the ship sank in the summer of 1495. The ship caught fire while anchored north of the Stora Ekö Island and sank to the seafloor, where it lies to this day. The wreck was rediscovered in the 1970s and is remarkably well preserved. Since 2001, scientific investigations have been performed on the wreck by various organizations. In total, 13 dendrochronological samples from different parts of the ship construction have been collected and analyzed with standard dendrochronological methods with respect to age and provenance. The results show that all dated samples could have been felled during the winter season of 1482/83, although only one sample contains sapwood and waney edge. The highest correlations are obtained from reference chronologies that originate from the River Meuse drainage area, with correlations peaking around the city of Namur in Belgium. Most likely, the ship was constructed in a shipyard close to the mouth of the River Meuse in the southern Netherlands. It seems King Hans realized the potential of the new ship type represented by Gribshunden, but his shipwrights did not have the knowledge to build such a ship in Denmark. Instead, he purchased the ship from abroad. This study highlights late medieval economic and political connections throughout northern Europe.
In this paper we examine underwater imaging for archaeology and especially the use of multiple ac... more In this paper we examine underwater imaging for archaeology and especially the use of multiple acoustic and optical sensors at varying degrees of resolution for reconnaissance and mapping sites on the seafloor. Specifically) 1velook at the role of side-scan sonar for locating suitable sites of interest) which n1ay then be ntapped quantitatively with bathymetric sonars. lVe also discuss the role of conventional digital and video cameras in providing high resolution redundant imagery) and how) after compensating for lighting and other artifacts) such imagery may be assembled into a photomosaic of a lat;ge site.
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Jul 3, 2022
Wooden casks were used extensively to transport goods in medieval Europe but have been largely ov... more Wooden casks were used extensively to transport goods in medieval Europe but have been largely overlooked in Scandinavian marine archaeological studies. We present a study of casks recovered from the Danish-Norwegian royal flagship Gribshunden, which sank in the summer of 1495 outside Stora Ekö Island in southeastern Sweden. During excavations in 2020-2021, archaeologists recovered 135 wooden staves and heads for dendrochronological analysis. Seventy-nine percent of the samples were successfully dated and provenanced from seven different timber source areas, predominantly southeastern Baltic (59%) and Scania (22%). These results suggest the geographical extent of the late medieval Nordic timber trade. Components from several source areas were incorporated within individual casks, suggesting staves were bulk goods transported to production centres for cooperage. The dating results indicate the life span of medieval casks was just a few years. This study highlights the untapped potential of wooden casks for a wide range of research fields.
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Papers by Brendan Foley
summit in Kalmar, where Hans expected to be crowned king of Sweden, it was his mobile seat of government, an instrument combining hard and soft power functions. Recent excavations of Gribshunden reveal its martial aspects: artillery, small arms (including several crossbows and hand guns) and personal armour. Soft power is reflected more subtly in other artefacts: silver coins; secular artwork depicting flowers, animals and mythical beasts; and prestige provisions, including copious amounts of exotic imported spices and a large sturgeon. Continuing excavations of the wreck are revealing the structure of the ship itself, while providing insights into the social division of space aboard this royal castle at sea. Combined with archival documents, analyses of all these artefacts deliver deep insight into the people aboard the ship and the late Mediaeval period through which they travelled.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
summit in Kalmar, where Hans expected to be crowned king of Sweden, it was his mobile seat of government, an instrument combining hard and soft power functions. Recent excavations of Gribshunden reveal its martial aspects: artillery, small arms (including several crossbows and hand guns) and personal armour. Soft power is reflected more subtly in other artefacts: silver coins; secular artwork depicting flowers, animals and mythical beasts; and prestige provisions, including copious amounts of exotic imported spices and a large sturgeon. Continuing excavations of the wreck are revealing the structure of the ship itself, while providing insights into the social division of space aboard this royal castle at sea. Combined with archival documents, analyses of all these artefacts deliver deep insight into the people aboard the ship and the late Mediaeval period through which they travelled.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.