Shipyard Archaeology in the Southern Baltic

Abstract

In the past two decades, the topic of archaeological studies of shipyard sites has regularly appeared in research devoted to maritime archaeology around the world. The closer attention of archaeologists to shipyard sites is due to the increased interest in studies of the maritime cultural landscape, ship graveyards, and coastal archaeology. The purpose of this paper is to review the problems of archaeological research of shipyard sites in the southern Baltic Sea and to compare these problems with previous research results from other regions. Seasonal or occasional sites for the building or repair of boats and ships have been created since the earliest times. Isolating such sites is often problematic since sleepers or simple wooden supports were sufficient for the construction of plank boats and the work was carried out in the open air. In the coastal cities of the southern Baltic, there is evidence for the existence of designated permanent shipbuilding yards, although without permanent shipbuilding structures, since the late Middle Ages. These were places in which a ship’s carpenter received permission from the city authorities to use a particular section of the yard for shipbuilding in return for an appropriate fee. Structures used for construction were assembled each time to a specific order from the builder’s materials and they could be dismantled after completion of the project. Archaeological research of the Gdansk Lastadia site remains the best recognized shipyard providing a more complete picture of the maritime cultural landscape of this southern Baltic city from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century.