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Archaeologists have give away the remains of a inscrutable vessel that could be one of Norway ’s oldest shipwreck , during an effort to locate slews of undischarged ammunition dumped on the bottom of a lake near Oslo .
Sonar images show the Isaac Hull of the 33 - animal foot - long ( 10 metre ) wooden ship at a depth of about 1,350 feet ( 410 m ) beneath the airfoil of Lake Mjøsa , about 60 miles ( 100 kilometer ) north of the Norse Das Kapital .
This sonar image from the autonomous underwater vehicle shows the distinctive shape of the wooden frame of a clinker-built vessel.
What is known of the ship ’s construction suggests it was work up up to 700 years ago , soon after the transition fromVikingships — which were almost the same at both remnant — to medieval designs with a distinctive bow and stern , Øyvind Ødegård , a maritime archaeologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU ) , differentiate Live Science .
" We only have the acoustical [ sonar ] persona of the shipwreck , " he sound out . " But it appears from the data that there is the outline of something that perchance could be a austere — and if that ’s the pillow slip , then that does n’t really appear until the 1300s . "
So far , bad weather condition and misfortunate profile have prevented researchers from enquire the wreck web site with camera equipment , and it now looks like that wo n’t be possible until circumstance amend next year , Ødegård said .
Researchers think the ship has a distinct bow and stern with a central rudder, which suggests it is from the medieval period after the 1300s.
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The sonar images clearly show the distinctive frame of a " cinder - progress " ship , a traditional Norse boatbuilding method in which the planks of the Isaac Hull overlap , making the hull light . During the gothic period , that method was superseded by smoothly link up plank on stronger " carvel - built " ships , a Mediterranean introduction .
Historic lake
Ødegård is part of a project lead by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment ( FFI ) in collaboration with NTNU to site and represent C of tons of nimiety ammunition ditch in Lake Mjøsa from the 1940s until the 1970s .
The lake has also been a vital trade route between roaring community of interests since at least the Viking Age ( the 8th to 11th centuries ) , and Ødegård said he was drawn by the theory of regain ethnic object in the depths .
" Finding the shipwreck was almost a byproduct of the original mission to map dumped munitions , " he said . " I ask to bump some things — that ’s why I was participating in the project . "
The sonar images of the wreck were made by an autonomous underwater vehicle that’s being used to map the location of surplus ammunition dumped on the floor of the vast lake.(Image credit: Merete Nyheim/NTNU)
Lake Mjøsa covers more than 140 square mile ( 360 square kilometer ) ; of that area , only about 15 square miles ( 40 square km ) have been mapped , using the FFI ’s Hugin autonomous underwater vehicle ( AUV ) .
The AUV is equip with sonar — level-headed sailing and ranging — which use the reflections of sound pulse rate to make detailed acoustical images of the surroundings , even in almost lightless surround , such as the astuteness of the lake .
Mystery ship
Several acoustic images from the AUV have been used to make a three - dimensional model of the crash .
Ødegård suggest that the vessel would have had a single mast with a square sail — much like a Viking ship — but that it seems to have sported a key rudder , rather than the traditional Viking rudder on the correct side of the hull .
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The mapping project is led by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment in collaboration with NTNU; it uses an autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with sonar to image the lake floor.(Image credit: FFI/NTNU)
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Ships of the same size of it and build were probably uncouth on Lake Mjøsa in the medieval menses , although the researchers wo n’t be able-bodied to determine the watercraft ’s determination until they can research it with cameras . " If we are lucky , there could be some cargo on board , " Ødegård noted .
Lake Mjøsa has been a vital trade route between prosperous communities in southern Norway for centuries. But the military dumped hundreds of tons of surplus ammunition there from the 1940s until the 1970s.(Image credit: Øyvind Ødegård/NTNU)
Also unnamed is how much of the Isaac Hull protrudes above the deep layers of sediment on the lake floor , which are partially invisible to the AUV ’s sonar equipment , he said .
There may be even honest-to-god wrecks to find in the lake . " If we are going to find a Viking wreck in Norway , then Mjøsa is plausibly the place with the most potential for such a find , " Ødegårdtold Science Norway .
