When medieval becomes early modern – changing interpretations of the Poel 11 and Hiddensee 12 ships from the southwestern Baltic Sea in Germany

Summary

The wrecks of two large ships found in the southwestern Baltic Sea in 1997 and 1999 were originally believed to be the remains of late 14th-century cargo vessels of extraordinary size. It was suggested they represented a special type of ship which was then called the "Baltic Cog" based on some similarities with ships of the so-called medieval "cog"–building tradition and in reference to a theory of the German scholar Paul Heinsius. However, in some aspects they differed from all known medieval ship finds of the Baltic Sea.

Recent dendrochronological analysis dated one of the wrecks to 1773 or shortly after. The pine trees for the ship where cut in Southwest Finland. The medieval dating of the Hiddensee 12 wreck could not be confirmed and a new investigation of the cargo and other finds from the site point to a building date around 1800.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Historical Archaeology in Europe   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 418