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Scientists realize 'Viking' shipwreck is something else entirely
Live Science ^ | March 5, 2025 | Tom Metcalfe

Posted on 03/07/2025 8:21:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv

A more than 500-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sweden isn't a Viking vessel after all, scientists have found.

A 15th-century shipwreck off the coast of Sweden may be Scandinavia's oldest shipwreck built in the innovative "carvel" style — a design that gave it the strength to carry heavy cannons, archaeologists say.

The wreck at Landfjärden, south of Stockholm, is one of five in the area that have been known since the 1800s. They were commonly thought to have been from ships dating to the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066).

But last year, maritime archaeologists at Vrak, the museum of wrecks in Stockholm, revealed that four of the wrecks date to the 1600s and 1700s and that the oldest wreck was built before 1480 and perhaps as early as the 1460s, museum curator and project manager Håkan Altrock said in a statement.

"It's a large ship, likely about 35 metres [115 feet] long and 10 metres [33 feet] wide," he said. "The ship's frame still rises high above the seabed, and in the stern, both the sternpost and rudder remain upright."

The most significant aspect of the wreck, now known as "Vrak 5," is that it was built in the "carvel" style, with planks on the hull that were flush with neighboring planks so that the whole hull surface was relatively smooth, Altrock said.

...the use of carvel-style flush planks — an innovation from the Mediterranean dating to about the seventh century A.D. — meant that a ship's hull could be reinforced with framing to make it stronger. This was an important consideration when ships started carrying cannons in the 15th century, Altrock said, so traditional "clinker-built" ships soon became obsolete.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: baltic; carvel; godsgravesglyphs; hakanaltrock; hanseaticleague; landfjarden; livescience; middleages; renaissance; scandinavia; sweden; thevikings; tommetcalfe; vikings; vrak5
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Two diagrams of the shipwreck.
Image credit: Alexander Rauscher and Jim Hansson
Image credit: Alexander Rauscher and Jim Hansson

1 posted on 03/07/2025 8:21:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

2 posted on 03/07/2025 8:23:32 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: SunkenCiv

As medieval ships go...that must be the SS Rosa DeLauro.


4 posted on 03/07/2025 8:28:18 AM PST by Buttons12
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To: SunkenCiv

5 posted on 03/07/2025 8:28:45 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

6 posted on 03/07/2025 8:31:10 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv
They were commonly thought to have been from ships dating to the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066).

Interesting that the date bracketing a seafaring power would be the successful Norseman land battle at Hastings.

7 posted on 03/07/2025 8:32:17 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: SunkenCiv
built in the innovative "carvel" style

Well, I learned something here. At first I thought this was a spelling mistake. I am familiar with the caravel type of ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish. I didn't know about "carvel". Turns out it's significant.


8 posted on 03/07/2025 8:37:10 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: Carry_Okie

The unsuccessful Battle of Stamford Bridge is why the end of the bracket is there.

The Normans had some Viking roots, hence their violence and short-lived House of Normandy in England, but were French speakers.


9 posted on 03/07/2025 8:40:52 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Carry_Okie
Interesting that the date bracketing a seafaring power would be the successful Norseman land battle at Hastings.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge, shortly before Hastings, was a resounding defeat for one of the last Viking armies. It was the last time a full invasion fleet was assembled and sent to England or Europe by the Vikings.

10 posted on 03/07/2025 8:41:44 AM PST by AzSteven ("War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." Jean Dutourd )
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To: ClearCase_guy

Same here. I thought at first that it was a typo. Now, it could be that Caravel is some kind of alt-spelling or variant type, dunno. Clinker-built includes sewn boats, which is a very old tradition, but as tonnage went up, things changed.


11 posted on 03/07/2025 8:42:57 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: AzSteven; Carry_Okie

What AzSteven said. :^)


12 posted on 03/07/2025 8:43:39 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Scientists having a heated discussion about the type of ship they found.

13 posted on 03/07/2025 8:45:05 AM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper)
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To: Red Badger

:^)

One that comes back to me is when Hagar came home to his wife and gave her a lock for their home. He’d been On the Vik and sacked a castle that had the lock. How’d you get it? It was easy, I just pulled it out. :^D


14 posted on 03/07/2025 8:45:35 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: \/\/ayne

My favorite John Wayne fistfight is the one that takes up the last, I dunno, 20% of “The Quiet Man”. :^) Also the bar fight in “Hellfighters” is amusing.


15 posted on 03/07/2025 8:46:54 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Scandinavia's oldest shipwreck built in the innovative "carvel" style

It was at this point that I lost the thread.

16 posted on 03/07/2025 8:47:17 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: SunkenCiv
What's Carvel style?


17 posted on 03/07/2025 8:48:09 AM PST by lowbridge ("Let’s check with Senator Schumer before we run it" - NY Times)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Clinker hulls have the planks riveted together, typically with copper. Carvel hulls require calking, starting with fiber (such as cotton or okum) driven into a beveled butt joint with a carefully managed gap between planks and then a sealant (from tar to modern elastomers). Both leak like a seive when put into the water dry as the wood swells. If a carvel hull is too tight when dry, it can pop fasteners. Its assembly must be to much more careful tolerances in planking.


18 posted on 03/07/2025 8:51:18 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: SunkenCiv

All of the later kings of England are descended from William of Normandy (a.k.a. William the Bastard).


19 posted on 03/07/2025 8:52:58 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: ClearCase_guy

Came here to comment the same thing. Never knew about the carvels. Thought they were referring to Fudgie the Whale.


20 posted on 03/07/2025 8:55:57 AM PST by rarestia (“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” -Hamilton)
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