Archaeologists use Viking technology to navigate only. This is what he learned
The Vikings were Scandinavian warriors and sailors who, from 800 to 1050, arrived in Nordic, Iceland, Greenland, and even North America, attacked, traded and settled. However, most of the scholars’ knowledge of Viking Ocean Networks is related to their starting point and end point. After all, they can take any number of routes between the two. To shed light on this gap, archaeologists decided to follow the Vikings’ footsteps or awaken them more accurately.
To reconstruct its nautical itinerary, Lund University archaeologist Greer Jarrett sailed a practical Viking ship along the Norwegian coast and conducted a series of experimental voyages. By going through these journeys in person, archaeologists hope to understand where Viking sailors seek shelter on their way to their destination makes the most sense. In this way, he identified four natural ports that could have been used as pit openings hundreds of years ago.
“A lot of times, we only know the beginning and end of transactions during the Viking Age. “My assumption is that this network of decentralized ports located on small islands and peninsulars was crucial to improving trade efficiency during the Viking Age. ”
Between September 2021 and July 2022, Jarrett and his crew conducted 15 sailing tests and two approximately three-week trial voyages on seven different Nordic clinker boats: traditional, small, small, open wooden sailing vessels, whose use in the Nordic region dates back nearly 2,000 years. It doesn’t always sail smoothly – once the poles supporting Meiyuan were 15 miles (25 kilometers) close to the shore, they had to tie two paddles together to secure the sails until they managed to return to land. Overall, they cover 1,494 sailing miles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS9NS4JSTXW
Experimental archaeologists decided that possible “safe havens” along the sea itinerary should provide fresh water, shelter to avoid expansion and wind, and to enjoy the beauty of the ocean. Furthermore, they must be reached with low visibility, large enough to accommodate several boats, easy and cashable from different directions, and located at the “transition zone”: the coastal point between the exposed area and the inner area.
In addition to these standards, Jarit’s investigation incorporates digital reconstruction of Viking-era sea level, pre-knowledge of large Viking maritime centers, and information about traditional sailing routes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Archaeologists also clarified that his work involves long-range Viking expeditions, not for attacks and war purposes.
“The focus of this study is on practical navigation knowledge and experience, aimed at coping with shared academic biases on ground and written materials and worldviews,” he wrote in a study published earlier this month in the Journal of Archaeological Methods and Theory.
In this way, he claimed that four potential Viking havens have been identified. These remote areas along the Norwegian coast each have varying degrees of previous archaeological evidence that past existence is revealed. It is presumed that Jarrett was the first pit stop to suggest that they might also be Viking Sea trips.
He explained: “A list of possible Viking-era havens, the chart in which is intended as a working document that can be shaped and shaped through future archaeological investigations and excavations.”
It is worth remembering that even through the digital reconstruction of the Viking-era seascape, experimental navigation will never provide evidence of Viking activities to the extent of direct archaeological evidence. However, creative and practical approaches like Jarrett’s stance remind you that sometimes solutions to problems require different perspectives. Whether his work will inspire future archaeological investigations remains to be seen.
