Man and Machine – New Methods for Excavation, Documentation and Reconstruction of 29 Medieval and Renaissance Boat Wrecks from Oslo Harbour, Norway

Summary

Since 2003, the Norwegian Maritime Museum has had several extensive excavations in the area of Bjørvika in the harbour of Oslo as a measure to document archaeological remains before being removed or covered during the rapid urban development of the area. This paper will discuss two of the major sites that have yielded 29 well-preserved boat wrecks and large areas of previously unknown harbour constructions of timber. Boats and constructions date to the 16th and early 17th century and varies from small boats of around five meters length to 20 meters long ships. All but one are built in the Nordic clinker technique.

The museum made the decision early to retrieve all boats and document every boat part with a digital 3D Faro-arm. We have chosen to use a combination of digital and traditional methods of documentation including cardboard models of the boats using 3D prints. In the process of building replicas of the boats, we have experienced the subjective contribution and practical knowledge of the older generation of boat archaeologists and skilled boat builders to be of great value to compliment the "objective" digital methods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21214