A shipwreck discovered during a search for forgotten wartime munitions in Norway's Lake Mjøsa has been identified as a 700-year-old " føringsbåt ."
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The wreck, which lies at a depth of about 400 meters, was found in 2022 by an autonomous underwater vehicle that was mapping the lake for the Norwegian military.
The discovery caught the attention of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, but they were unable to revisit the wreck until last month.
NTNU marine archaeologist Øyvind Ødegård said he and his colleagues explored the wreck for about an hour using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) tethered to a research vessel on the surface of the Norwegian lake. But technical issues and bad weather prevented the researchers from using the underwater drone to take wood samples for radiocarbon dating, so the exact age of the wreck will remain unknown until they return there next spring.
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However, many visible features of the wreck indicate that the vessel was built between 1300 and 1700, Ødegård said.
Lake Mjøsa, where the shipwreck is located, is the largest lake in Norway and is located about 100 kilometers north of Oslo. It covers more than 360 square kilometers, but only a few square miles of the lakebed have been mapped. It has been a vital trade route between the many prosperous communities along its shores since at least the eighth century.
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Ødegård said researchers now believe the mysterious vessel was a “føringsbåt” used to transport cargo and passengers. Such vessels were widely used on Norwegian lakes, but their flat-bottomed construction made them unsuitable for the open sea.
Source: livescience
