Harbingers of early globalization in a regional context: Shipwrecks of the North Frisian Wadden Sea

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Transient legacies of the past: Historical Archaeology in the Intertidal Zone", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Wadden Sea can be regarded as a traditional zone of transport geography as defined by Christer Westerdahl, a maritime cultural landscape in its own right, which necessitated a distinctive way to interact with the sea. This is reflected in navigation, shipbuilding, coastal management, and a maritime cultural legacy shared by three nations. The North Frisian Wadden Sea in Germany’s federal state of Schleswig-Holstein forms part of this macro-region with which flat-bottomed vessels with leeboards are commonly associated, adapted to this difficult intertidal environment. Wrecks of this kind, however, are contrasted by shipwrecks of larger merchant vessels with foreign characteristics. With only three deep-water harbours of regional importance, it can be doubted that all of those long-distance trading vessels were destined to call at a local port. Nonetheless, the stranding and salvage fatefully intertwined the biographies of the shipwrecked crews and the local population through these harbingers of early globalization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Transient legacies of the past: Historical Archaeology in the Intertidal Zone   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow