Early Boats in Scandinavia: New Evidence from Early Iron Age Bog Finds in Arctic Norway

Abstract

This article considers early boats in Scandinavian spanning a timeframe from Early Mesolithic colonization at c. 9500 cal BC up until the beginning of the Late Iron Age around AD 600 from a northern Norwegian perspective. The role of boats in current models of maritime colonization and proxy evidence from carved rock art images of Bronze Age to Early Iron Age boats are evaluated before focusing on newly dated boat remains from bogs in Arctic Norway currently housed at The Arctic University Museum of Norway. These include paddles predating the Iron Age and finds supporting the existence of rowed plank-built vessels in the early Pre-Roman Iron Age (500-0 BC). Rowing evidence includes a boat frame and oar radiocarbon dated to the 6th to 5th century BC and two oars from the later Pre-Roman Iron Age. Consequently, a revision of thinking about early Iron Age boat development is necessary, not only in Arctic Norway but also elsewhere in Scandinavia and Fennoscandia. The context of the earliest plankbuilt vessel in Scandinavia, the paddled war canoe from Hjortspring, Denmark dated to c. 350 BC, is reevaluated in light of a probable coexistence with rowed boats.

The Nordic Bronze Age Rose from Copper Age Diversity: Contrasts in the Cimbrian Peninsula

“…The only objects that almost exclusively would be found in a harbour context are perhaps the boats themselves, with boathouses for the more sizeable harbours. However, the only remains of a BA boat known from Norway was discovered in a bog at Senja, at some distance from the shore (Wickler 2019). Furthermore, to my knowledge, no construction that has been interpreted as a boathouse has ever been found in a Scandinavian LN/BA context.…”

What Could the ‘Sea Ice Machine’ do to its People? On Lateglacial Doggerland, Marine Foraging, and the Colonisation of Scandinavian Seascapes

“…A majority of Early Holocene settlements in Norway, more than 90%, are found along the coast. Most sites are situated on what were islands at the time, and site locations clearly indicate seaworthy vessels -probably skin-boats similar to Greenland umiaks (Bjerck 2010;Breivik 2014;Svendsen 2018;Wickler 2019) (Fig. 2 and 6).…”

The Earliest Boat Depiction in Northern Europe: Newly Discovered Early Mesolithic Rock Art at Valle, Northern Norway

“…For a lengthy discussion on the 'missing boats' and the boat types in the Early Mesolithic in pioneer seascapes one should consult the discussion in the Norwegian Archaeological Review (Bang-Andersen 2013; Bjerck 2013;Bonsall et al 2013;Cummings 2013;Eriksen 2013;Fuglestvedt 2013;Glørstad 2013a;2013b;Rowley-Conwy 2013;Wikell and Pettersson 2013). No actual boats dated to the Norwegian Stone Age have been found (Glørstad 2013b); a recent overview for Arctic Norway indicates that the oldest physical 'boat' remains known are paddles, with the earliest dated to 2776-2580 cal BC (Wickler 2019).…”

“…2013; Cummings 2013; Eriksen 2013; Fuglestvedt 2013; Glørstad 2013a; 2013b; Rowley‐Conwy 2013; Wikell and Pettersson 2013). No actual boats dated to the Norwegian Stone Age have been found (Glørstad 2013b); a recent overview for Arctic Norway indicates that the oldest physical ‘boat’ remains known are paddles, with the earliest dated to 2776–2580 cal BC (Wickler 2019).…”