Oddly enough finds from Viking shipyards are few and far between
Until now only two Viking shipyards have been found in Denmark; one a bit inland from Århus and another at Fribrødre Å at Falster. A newfound shipyard 34 km inland along a small river in Northeastern Jutland might help to explain the conundrum. Archaeologists have simply not looked far enough inland.
The new yard is located in a meadow in the Gravlev Valley next to a river called Lindenborg Å. So-far archaeologists have found planks, an oar and wooden plugs from a type of boat called a “snekke”, but more is probably waiting to be excavated. Such boats – small warships – were app. 15 -20 meters long.
The river meanders through a very hilly and forested part of Denmark on its way towards Limfjorden, which is nowadays a firth, which cuts most of Northern Jutland of from the rest of Denmark. In the Viking age it was a strait open at both ends and thus connecting Skagerak with the North Sea.
The archaeologists are very excited about the new find. Lars Christian Nørbach, heading the dig, believes that the find will create the need for a reevaluation of the transport-system in the Viking and Early Middle Age (around 800-1200). It is of course well known that the Vikings sailed their ships up rivers to cities like Paris and Köln, which they sacked. Not known is how far inland they sailed their ships when at home. In general the rivers of Denmark are small and hardly deserved to be called anything but streams.
However, the new find might help to make sense of the many place-names starting with “Skib” (ship) or “Snekke”, even when they lie at a significant distance from the sea, something which which has puzzled archaeologists and historians. The reason why these particular archaeologists struck lucky was exactly because they let themselves be guided by the name of the location “Snekens Dall”, found in a land-cadaster from 17th century. More than a 100 place-names with the compound “snekke” have been identified in Denmark.
The new find has been preliminary dated by dendrochronology to around 1200. But the results are not precise enough and C14 is presently underway. Next summer further excavations will be undertaken.