Ancient sailor’s fingerprints found in Scandinavia

The fingerprints of a sailor who built Scandinavia’s oldest known plank ship have been found in tar used for waterproofing. A new study of caulking and rope fragments has revealed the presence of fingerprints and provided new evidence about the ship’s possible origins and construction techniques.

It was first discovered in the 1880s by peat diggers in the Hjortspring bog on the Danish island of Als, near Jutland, and was fully excavated in 1921 and 1922. About 40% of the ship was recovered, enough to completely reconstruct its shape. The ship is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) long, weighs 530 kilograms (1,170 pounds), and can carry 24 people and equipment. It is sewn from lime boards and rope.

A large number of spearheads and shields were stored with it in the swamp, enough to equip about 80 warriors. Archaeologists believe that as many as four raiders of similar size ships attacked Ars but were defeated. The islanders then deposited the boats and the raiders’ weapons in the swamp as offerings.

Since 1937, the ship’s remains have been preserved, stabilized and on display at the National Museum of Denmark. Because they were treated first with alum and later with PEG, the wood could no longer be radiocarbon dated, but new excavations of the discovery site in 1987 revealed other wood fragments that could be dated with C-14. Results indicate the ship dates to the 4th or 3rd century B.C.

The recent study analyzed parts of the ship – fragments of caulking and ropes – that were collected during the original excavations in the 1920s but had never been chemically preserved. Modern technical analysis has found that the ropes were made of lime bast with long twisting threads that kept the lashes pliable during ship construction and later repairs.

Taken together, the results of our analysis of the Hjortspring rope illustrate the skill and sophistication of ancient Scandinavian shipbuilding technology. It is clear that the ropes found on the ship were made by highly skilled craftsmen who were versed in the long tradition of shipbuilding. Since the rope fragments were not tarred, they were probably retained on the ship for repair purposes. This rope can be spliced ​​into existing ropes in the manner determined in our experiments. It is likely that caulking materials and ropes were kept on board to allow for repairs at sea.

The caulk showed marks from ropes, knots and board seams as well as some fingerprints. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of them revealed that the caulking material may consist of needle tar (possibly pine).

“The fact that the ship is waterproofed with pine resin is surprising. This suggests that the ship was built in a place where pine forests were abundant,” said Mikael Fauvelle.

Several scholars have previously stated that the ship and its crew came from the area around modern-day Hamburg, Germany. Instead, researchers now believe they came from the Baltic Sea region.

“If the ship came from a coastal area rich in pine forests in the Baltic Sea, it would mean that the fighters who attacked Als chose to launch a maritime attack hundreds of kilometers away on the high seas,” said Mikael Falwell.

The mark was most likely made by a crew member while repairing the ship. Researchers hope to extract ancient DNA from the caulked asphalt to learn more about the sailors who sailed the ship 2,300 years ago.