Possible Medieval Ship in 'Pristine Condition' Found in Norway's Biggest Lake
Researchers mapping Norway's largest lake made a big discovery last month.
After embarking on a voyage more than 400 meters (1,312 feet) below Lake Mjøsa's surface with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Norwegian Defense Research Institute (FFI) revealed in a press release their discovery of a 10-meter (33-foot) wooden boat and an un-detonated bomb.
According to CNN, the vessel could date back to the 1300s and as late as the 1800s.
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The boat may might from the Middle Ages, and it has not been dismantled over time. This is the first discovery of this magnitude in Mjøsa, as diving archaeologists have only explored between depths of 20 to 30 meters (65 to 75 feet), according to Science Norway.
The discoveries were made by the FFI's Hugin, an autonomous submarine on its first voyage in the lake, which is about 62 miles north of Oslo. The Mission Mjøsa's project aims to map the 140-square-mile lake bed using sonar technology, CNN reported.
FFI/NTNU
According to Science Norway, the FFI was asked to map the lake in order to find explosives and ammunition which may have been dumped there by an ammunition factory between the 1940s and 70s, leading to a partnership with university researchers.
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"My expectation was that there could also be shipwrecks discovered while we were mapping dumped munitions — that turned out to be the case," Øyvind Ødegård, a senior researcher in marine archaeology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the mission's principal investigator, told CNN.
"It was just purely that the statistical chance of finding shipwrecks that were well preserved was considered to be fairly high," Ødegård said, explaining that the "freshwater environment and lack of wave activity kept the vessel in pristine condition, except for corrosion of a few iron nails at each end of the ship."
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Ødegård said that researchers have only mapped out 15 square miles of the 140-square-mile lake but expect they could find more shipwrecks.
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"We could find vessels from since the beginning of human activity in the area. They could be present, and in good condition," Ødegård told the outlet. "You can't rule out anything."
