Almost 600 twelvemonth ago , a ship loaded with cargo was wrecked off the southeast tip of Sweden . In a new discipline , researchers dived into this ship ’s story by taking a close look at its lading and tracing its journeying . Although its journeying mysteriously terminate in devastation , it appears the ship crashed while in the midst of an epic journey through Medieval Europe .
The vast merchant ship , know as the Skaftö crash , was first fall upon in 2003 by a local diver at the bottom of the sea off Lysekil , N of Gothenburg . Later that class , nautical archaeologist from Bohusläns Museum carried out an unionised dive on the wreck website and come across it load up with a rich diversity of load when it was go down around the twelvemonth 1440 CE .
Now , a brisk analytic thinking by maritime archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg has put together a elaborated listing of theshipwreck’sbountiful contents . Through chemical analysis and advanced mental imagery techniques , they found the cargo was made up of building supplying , including copper color , oak forest , quicklime , Jack-tar , brick , and roof roofing tile .
Copper ingots onboard the wreck. Image credit: Jens Lindström/Bohusläns Museum
The research worker managed to distinguish Ca oxide , commonly know as burnt lime or burnt lime tree , that look to have originated on the Swedish island of Gotland . This was particularly surprising as the researchers did n’t know it was exported from Gotland in the 15th century .
“ The analyses we have carry out give us a very elaborate picture of the ship ’s last journeying and also separate us about the geographical stock of its cargo . Much of this is completely new knowledge for us , ” Staffan von Arbin , lead subject field source and a maritime archaeologist , said in astatement .
Thecopper , it appears , was mined in two country in present - day Slovakia . By looking atmedievalsources , the squad believe that the copper was ravish from the Slovakian mining districts in the Carpathian Mountains through river system around the Polish port town of Gdańsk .
Excavation of the Skaftö wreck in 2009. Image credit: Staffan von Arbin, Bohusläns museum
“ It is therefore very potential that it was in Gdańsk that the ship guide on its cargo before it continued on what would be its last voyage ” , he excuse .
Further psychoanalysis of cargo suggest the ship was on its way to a western European larboard , perhaps in Belgium , when it succumbed to the wave in the Bohuslän archipelago of Sweden for unsung reason .
“ We believe that the ship ’s final terminus was City of Bridges in Belgium . In the 15th century , this city was a major trading hub . We also be intimate that copper produce in Central Europe was embark on from there to various Mediterranean ports , including Venice ” , added von Arbin .
The fresh study was recently published in theInternational Journal of Nautical Archaeology .
