An autonomous underwater car named Hugin is sweeping Lake Mjøsa in Norway for unexploded World Struggle II munitions dumped there between the Forties and Seventies. Piloted by researchers from the Norwegian College of Science and Expertise and the Norwegian Defence Analysis Institution, the Mission Mjøsa initiative goals to find out if the munitions pose an environmental menace to the lake, which supplies ingesting water to hundreds.
However Hugin has found one thing far more surprising: an unknown shipwreck dated between 1300 and 1850.
Hugin’s sonar photographs have inadvertently revealed the hull of a 33-foot picket ship 1,350 ft beneath Lake Mjøsa’s floor. The vessel seems to have a centered rudder, reasonably than the standard Viking rudder on its sides. That element, paired with outlines of a particular bow and stern, date the wreck to Medieval instances, no sooner than 1300. Its distinctive body evokes the standard Norse “clinker-built” technique, the place planks overlap to lighten the hull.
Mission Mjøsa in motion. Picture courtesy of the Norwegian College of Science and Expertise.
Quiet waves and Lake Mjøsa’s freshwater ecosystem have probably preserved the newfound picket ship, save for corrosion on just a few iron nails at both finish—an indicator it’s been submerged for a while, presumably after sinking attributable to a squall, primarily based on its spot in the course of the lake.
Though researchers have used Hugin’s sonar photographs to assemble a digital 3D mannequin of the ship for research, in-person exploration will make all of the distinction. Researchers don’t understand how a lot of this wreck is submerged within the seafloor’s sediment, as an illustration, or what cargo might nonetheless be on board.
“We needed to abort an ROV-operation to examine the shipwreck on the ultimate day of the mission attributable to wind and waves,” Øyvind Ødegård, a maritime archaeologist on the Norwegian College of Science and Expertise, advised Artnet Information. “We’d like to have the ability to maintain [an] precise place with our floor vessel and that requires calm climate. We hope to return for additional investigations this spring. Climate is at all times a wild card for such operations.”
Hugin heading underwater. Picture courtesy of the Norwegian College of Science and Expertise.
“As an archaeologist, any cargo within the wreck can be most attention-grabbing for me,” he continued. “The wreck itself might inform us about what forms of vessels sailed on Mjøsa and the way they have been constructed. Any cargo or different objects discovered on the website might inform us extra concerning the folks that used the vessel, and maybe what it was used for.”
The chances are as huge because the 140-square-mile lake itself, which served as a Viking commerce route from 700 to 1000 C.E., connecting surrounding fertile farm communities with Oslo and the world past—and typically providing an enviornment for large naval battles. In keeping with Science Norway, divers have logged 20 shipwrecks throughout its waters to this point, although they’ve but to discover depths past 20 to 30 meters.
Mission Mjøsa has solely mapped 15 sq. miles of the lake’s depths but. They might discover additional wrecks.
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