Update Gullåkra
During the fall of 2023, we will carry out a trial excavation with an excavator in combination with metal detection and a paleoecological survey in two areas; in connection with the discovery site marked in the antiquities register for the bronze lure which was reportedly found on a plank-built boat (L1989:2035), and in connection with the indication of a boat-like structure discovered underground that emerged during the ground radar survey in the northwestern part of our survey area.
In order to improve the state of knowledge regarding the possible find of a boat with a bronze lure typologically dated to 1300-1100 BC that was made in the Gullåkra bog in connection with peat extraction in 1840, researchers at the Institute for Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, carried out a reconnaissance metal detection and ground radar survey in the fall of 2022.
Research program "Maritime Encounters".
The survey is part of the international research program "Maritime Encounters". One of the aims of the program is to find concrete evidence of more advanced boats in Scandinavia from prehistoric times. According to several consistent reports, the bronze lure was found on a plank-built boat. Currently, there are no finds of plank-built boats from Scandinavia that can be dated to the Bronze Age, but there is indirect evidence in the form of depictions on rock carvings and metal objects, as well as full-scale depictions in the form of so-called ship-settings built in stone.
During the investigation in the fall of 2022, a probing metal survey and ground radar survey was carried out in the Gullåkra bog by a number of researchers at the Institute for Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg in collaboration with the Archaeologists, Statens Historiska Museum in Lund and Astacus AB. No new findings of metal objects emerged during the metal detector survey, but the ground radar survey showed a clear indication of a boat-shaped structure of some kind in the northwestern part of the Gullåkra bog, approximately 0.5-0.8 meters below the ground surface.
New excavation in autumn 2023
During the fall of 2023, we will therefore carry out a trial excavation with an excavator in combination with metal detection and a paleoecological survey in two areas; in connection with the discovery site marked in the antiquities register for the bronze lure which was reportedly found on a plank-built boat (L1989:2035), and in connection with the indication of a boat-like structure discovered underground that emerged during the ground radar survey in the northwestern part of our survey area. The objective of the trial excavation is to try to find the supposed boat remains and to determine its dating, construction and preservation conditions. In addition, the degree of conservation of the bog will be investigated and the extent of the peat extraction determined to better understand how the boat remains may have been affected.
