Underwater archaeobotany: plant and wood analyses from the Vrouw Maria, a 1771 shipwreck in the Finnish Baltic Sea

Mia Lempiäinen-Avci,Tuuli Timonen,Riikka Alvik,Pirkko Harju

doi:10.1007/s00334-021-00840-3

Abstract

Archaeobotanical analyses together with historical records can provide unique information about the cargoes and histories of sunken ships, which are found as wrecks at the bottom of the seas all over the world. An interdisciplinary research project was undertaken on the Vrouw Maria (Lady Mary), a Dutch wooden two-masted merchant ship that sank on October 9th in 1771 in the Finnish Baltic Sea. She rested at a depth of 41 m and was in good condition when discovered. Based on written sources and archaeological research, the ship was carrying a valuable cargo including, for example, sugar, dyes, cloth, porcelain, wood and goods that the Russian nobility had ordered. Among them were paintings that the Russian Empress Catherine the Great (1729–1796) had bought at an auction in Amsterdam. Samples from four wooden barrels and from one wooden packing crate among the ship’s cargo were investigated. Botanical analysis revealed products such as stimulants, dyes and fruits originating from the Mediterranean, India, Africa and South America. One of the most intriguing finds from the cargo was Indigofera tinctoria L. (true indigo), a valuable dye plant. Our paper presents the botanical data analysed from the barrels and summarizes the plants mentioned in the historical records on the cargo of the Vrouw Maria.

Highlights

Underwater conditions generally preserve organic material and shipwrecks can provide abundant remains of fruits, nuts, spices and other plant products seldom found on land sites (Haldane 1990)
One example of the well-preserved shipwrecks found in the Baltic Sea is a Dutch merchant ship, the Vrouw Maria (Fig. 1)
The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the cargo of the Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria

Summary

Introduction

Underwater conditions generally preserve organic material and shipwrecks can provide abundant remains of fruits, nuts, spices and other plant products seldom found on land sites (Haldane 1990). The seawater in sample 1 (grape barrel) was greenish, and the organic material composed of wellpreserved fruits ca 1.5 cm in size, fruit stones, seeds and leaves. The seawater in sample 2 (barrel 3) was reddish but clear, with three types of plant remains floating in the water: Results. The blue lumps in the samples appeared to be of a densely pressed powdery substance, that bled colour to the water and to the fruits, berries and other plant remains. Other remains identified were leaves of grasses fragments of beech wood Both charred and uncharred grape pips were present in the sample. Other remains noted were madder root or rhizome fragments, while the pieces of wood were identified as brazilwood, beech, larch/spruce and oak. The sample included one complete insect, shells and fragments of paint

Discussion

Conclusions