Posted on 08/08/2022 7:26:12 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A crew of shrimp fishermen made an unusual catch earlier this week when they pulled up a 17th century wooden head which may have formed part of the adornments of a large ship. The fisherman caught the head, which is in pristine condition, in their nets when fishing off the coast of the Wadden island of Texel on Monday morning. Crew member Victor Ayal put the find on Twitter, sparking a lively discussion about its possible origin, from the work of Vikings to that of Northern European shipbuilders. However, according to archaeologist Michiel Bartels, the head most likely dates from the 17th century. One of the clues is the man’s Frygian hat which became a symbol of freedom during the 80 Years’ War. ‘In the 17th century the Dutch depicted the freedom fighters of the time wearing this type of hat as a sign of regaining their independence from Spain,’ he told local paper the Leeuwarder Courant. The head is made of oak, a very sturdy material, but prone to being eaten by shipworm which proliferate in the Wadden Sea. ‘They could have devoured this head within two years but it was stuck in the sea floor and they couldn’t get to it, Bartels said. The fishermen, who christened the head ‘Barry’ for unknown reasons, have said the site may yield more finds. ‘We could find an entire ship, who knows,’ Ayal said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dutchnews.nl ...
Lol
Truly remarkable find. Thanks for this post.
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My pleasure.
It looks like it’s still on the ship.
Whenever something like this is found the finders take photos of it for their own use and alert the media which hotfoots to the dock for more photos.
Whatever research group ends up with it will submerge it in a fresh water solution to leach the salt out, like you are saying. It can just take a while for it to get to the proper place.
Here’s a link that explains a bit of the desalination process.
https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2017-11-15/conservation-highlights-solution-testing
Interesting. Thanks, FRiend
Liar!
You’re welcome.
Interesting thing. In the picture you can see where some parts are lighter than the rest and a knife is setting beside the head. It looks like someone scraped the accretion off to get a better picture.
A researcher with a thimble full of knowledge would never have done that. Big no no.
Wow, that’s astounding! What do you think that hole under the right collar flap is for?
Probably one of those squirting flowers. :^)
LOL! Whatever, it’s an awesome figure. Maybe some sailor did that.
PS
It looks like Matt Bracken.
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