The wreck of an early medieval Slavic boat discovered in 1984 is being pieced back together by conservators at the Kamień Land History Museum in Kamień Pomorski, northwestern Poland.
It dates to the second half of the 12th century and was in use for a hundred years before meeting its demise in the late 13th century, a period when Kamień Pomorski was an important center of trade and government in the Duchy of Pomerania. Estimates put its original dimensions at 12.1 meters (39.7 feet) long, 2.84 meters (9.3 feet) wide and one meter (3.3 feet) high. About half of its length — just under six meters (19.7 feet) — has survived, and 2.32 meters (7.6 feet) of its width.
The boat’s hull was discovered during drainage work, its timbers well-preserved by the waterlogged environment. A part of the hull was cut by an excavator during the land improvement works before the crew realized they had found a historic shipwreck, but archaeologists were able to remove the surviving section of hull and transport it to an archaeological pool in Szczecin to prevent the timbers from drying out.
In December of 2022, 38 years after the ship’s discovery, conservators embarked on a complex conservation program. The oak timbers were analyzed, sampled and freeze-dried to stabilize them for handling.
“The work of assembling the fragments requires enormous precision and patience, but the end result – a presentation of such a well-preserved example of Slavic shipbuilding – will be impressive,” [Grzegorz Kurka, director of the Kamień Land History Museum] emphasizes. The director admits that it’s currently difficult to say how long the entire process of assembling the boat will take, but the results of the work will soon be on display at the museum.
He also emphasizes that the wreck has enormous historical value and is a source for research on the history of shipbuilding and navigation, both in the context of the development of maritime connections in Northern Europe and in relation to regional Slavic navigation.
“The boat could have served two purposes, depending on the needs. It could have been a trading vessel, but it could also have been used in combat. However, we lean towards the idea that it was a trading vessel, perhaps belonging to a local nobleman, but that’s just our theory,” says the museum director.
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