Archaeologists discovered a Medieval shipwreck in near perfect condition
at the bottom of Norway's largest lake

Erin Snodgrass
Wed, December 14, 2022 at 11:37 AM PST·3 min read

Sonar image showing the ship wreck site.
Researchers discovered a shipwreck that is likely hundreds of years old
at the bottom of Norway's lake Mjøsa.
Courtesy of Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.
Researchers discovered a shipwreck site at the bottom of Norway's
largest lake last month.

Archaeologists believe the vessel, which was in near pristine condition,
is up to 700 years old.

Sonar images of the ship showed signs of the boat having had a central
rudder.

A team of Norwegian researchers uncovered a maritime miracle while
mapping a massive lake bed last month.

Archaeologists discovered a near-pristine shipwreck they believe to be
up to 700 years old at the bottom of Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa,
during a government research mission.

The vessel, which is estimated to date back sometime between the 1300s
and 1800s, was found nearly 1,350 feet below the surface, according to a
Facebook post from the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.
Underwater images captured the 33-foot long ship in the lake's depths.

Researchers stumbled upon the site while executing Mission Mjøsa, a
government-funded project to map the 140-square mile lake bed. The body
of water serves as a source of drinking water to about 100,000 people in
the country, according to CNN, but the discovery of unexploded World War
II munitions in the lake during previous inspections prompted a more
expansive search into the water's potential health risks.

Sonar image of the shipwreck site.
The crew discovered the shipwreck using sonar imagery to measure the
lake bed via pulses, CNN reported.Courtesy of Norwegian Defence Research
Establishment
Øyvind Ødegård, a maritime archaeologist at the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology, told Live Science last month that he was
expecting to find some hidden treasures beneath the surface when he
signed on to the project, given the lake's status as a vital trade route
since the Viking era.

The vessel was in near-perfect condition due to a lack of wave activity
in the freshwater lake, according to CNN. Ødegård told the outlet that
some minimal wearing on the ship's metal indicates the wreck has been on
the bottom of the lake for a long time since corrosion takes hundreds of
years to happen.

Archaeologists said the stern of the ship showed signs of having had a
central rudder, which didn't begin appearing on boats until the late
13th century. Using the evidence of light corrosion, as well as the
rudder style, researchers narrowed down the ship's possible era to no
earlier than 1300 and no later than 1850, Ødegård told CNN.

Story continues

Sonar image of the ship wreck site.

Archaeologists said the stern of the ship showed signs of having had a
central rudder, which didn't begin appearing on boats until the late
13th century.Courtesy of Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.
Fuzzy, underwater photos of the boat show that the vessel is made of
wood and was built with planks laid overlapped on top of one another —
an old Norse technique used during the Viking age, according to Live
Science.

Ødegård told CNN that the ship likely went down in bad weather since it
was found in the middle of the lake.

Soon after researchers discovered the site, the weather turned and they
were no longer able to investigate the wreck using camera equipment,
Ødegård told media outlets. The team plans to return to the site next
year once conditions improve.

Previous expeditions have uncovered some 20 shipwrecks in the lake's
shallow waters, according to The Smithsonian Magazine. But Mission Mjøsa
is the first project to explore the lake's greatest depths.

Researchers load equipment into a truck.
Researchers stumbled upon the site while executing Mission Mjøsa, a
government-funded project to map the 140-square mile lake bed.Courtesy
of Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
Read the original article on Insider

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