Underwater archaeologists retrieved a beer tankard and weapons from the site of the 15th-century Danish royal shipwreck Gribshunden, submerged beneath the waters of the Baltic Sea. Brendan Foley, a marine archaeologist and researcher at Lund University in Sweden, led the excavation efforts.
While diving thirty feet under the surface, Foley spotted something unusual wedged beneath a tangle of firewood. As he cleared the mud away from a wooden tankard, it began to move on its own, pulling free of the sediment and rising quickly toward the surface. "I hadn't seen an artifact try to escape before. I had to hold it down," Foley said, according to Phys.org. The phenomenon was caused by bubbles of gas released from the decomposition of the beer or mead the tankard had contained for over 500 years.
The tankard, made from a single piece of alder wood and originally painted red, is unique among known objects from that period. "The tankard doesn't resemble any other known drinking vessels from that time," Foley noted. Its interior still smells faintly of pine, suggesting it may once have held a pine-flavored beer. Analysis showed that it was likely turned on a lathe, a woodworking technique for its time.
The Gribshunden, the personal flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway (1455-1513), sank off the coast of Ronneby, Sweden, in 1495 while the king was on shore attending a political summit in Kalmar, where he hoped to unify the entire Nordic region under his crown. The ship likely sank due to a gunpowder explosion, taking with it all the symbols of power that King Hans and his nobles had brought, and claiming the lives of sailors who remained on board.
Discovered by divers in the early 1970s, the wreck did not attract the attention of archaeologists until 2001. Initial excavations were limited until 2018, when Foley joined the team. Since then, he and his colleagues excavated only between 1% and 2% of the site, with ongoing work promising further revelations. "But what we have brought to the surface will keep researchers busy for years," Foley stated, according to Phys.org.
Among the artifacts retrieved are several intact crossbows, pistols, and other weapons, marking the beginning of the transition toward gunpowder weaponry. Handguns or pistols may have been a mark of prestige or a sign of military strength, while crossbows may have been more reliable and better suited to hunting. The collection reflects the evolving military technologies and strategies of the time.
The team also discovered a purse of silver coins. "They were able to determine when and where the coins were minted," Foley said. The coins point to a shift away from barter economies and toward the use of money around this time, shedding light on the economic changes occurring in the late 15th century.
Exotic spices were among the most surprising finds, including cloves, peppercorns, pieces of ginger, and fist-sized lumps of saffron. These expensive luxury items would have been imported from places as far away as present-day Indonesia. The spices were intended to season the elaborate feasts at the political summit that King Hans was holding. "We're finding evidence of all this in the artifacts on board the ship," Foley explained.
The Gribshunden represents the first generation of artillery-carrying warships in history. Its design is similar to the large armed ships used by Vasco da Gama to reach India and by Columbus to reach the Americas. The ship's construction allowed Europeans to conquer, colonize, and exploit large portions of the globe. "Ships facilitated local and global exchange, shaping the evolution of early societies and modern civilization," Foley remarked. "Any place where they are well preserved could be a treasure trove of new information about how we ended up here."
The preservation of the Gribshunden is due to the low salinity of the Baltic Sea, which kept wood-eating shipworms from devouring the hull and other wooden structures. "The level of preservation of the Gribshunden is exceptional," Foley said, reminding him of sunken ships he saw through the camera of a remotely operated vehicle 20 years ago in the Black Sea.
Foley's passion for underwater archaeology began along the coast of Massachusetts, where he was an avid diver. He spent his career unearthing what was lost under the ocean. "I can't imagine doing anything else. Since I was a teenager, I've never been able to look at a body of water without wondering what's on the bottom," he shared.
As the excavation continues, Foley and his team anticipate uncovering more artifacts that will shed light on the period's maritime history. "We've found things on this site that have no precedent archaeologically. Everything about it is fascinating," Foley said, according to La Vanguardia. "It's not just about making discoveries, it's about fundamentally new knowledge about our existence on this planet."
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.