New investigations of the Hjortspring boat: Dating and analysis of the cordage and caulking materials used in a pre-Roman iron age plank boat.

ABSTRACT: The Hjortspring boat is the only intact example of a prehistoric sewn plank boat ever found in Scandinavia. Built from lime wood planks lashed together with cordage, the boat represents the maritime technology used by some of Northern Europe's earliest seafarers. This article reports new analysis of the cordage and caulking material used in the construction of the Hjortspring boat. We provide the first ever direct date for the boat based on materials from the original excavation finds, with lime bast cordage from the boat carbon dated to between 381 and 161 BCE. We report the results of GC-MS analysis of the material used to caulk the boat, which shows that it was made from a mixture of animal fat and pine pitch. We argue that the use of pine pitch in the boat's construction indicates that

SUBMITTER: Fauvelle M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12694875 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature