Greifswald & Tollense field school - Part 3

October 05, 2023 • Archaeological Heritage and Society • 1 min read

During the months of July and August, students from Leiden University, Rostock University and Göttingen University research shipwrecks in the Greifswald Bay and a prehistoric site at the Tollense river in Germany. In this blog, student Dion Stawrianidis follows up on the research of shipwreck 88.

Continuing the research on shipwreck 88

On our fifth day on the Baltic Sea, we continued with the tasks that we did the previous day (see our second weblog): exploring the shipwreck at location 88, cleaning the ship and identifying parts of the ship. We were joined by guest experts, including Oleg (expert in Slavic archaeology) from Kiev and Marcel (expert in Stone Age) from Rostock University.

We continued the underwater research after the start-up checks such as safety regulations and diving tasks.

Foto 1 students of leiden university amber katrina are tending during this day dives — Students of Leiden University are tending during the fifth day dives.

Measuring the findings

The team was asked to do the measurements of the frames and planks and finish the photogrammetry under water. To do so we brought a measurement north cross and placed it on the sand next to the wooden structure of the wreck. After that, we did the measurements for length and width of the site and proceeded with the cleaning tasks. By doing that we could give the other divers of our team instruction by showing our sketches from the whole site.

By examining a piece of the wooden structure through dendrochronology, a tree dating method that will be conducted in a laboratory, we will be able to determine the age of the ship. We headed back to the harbour of Freest around 16:00, concluding another successful day of data collection and learning new techniques in underwater archaeology. This was the last day of doing research on this wreck. We will continue the research and the processing of the data and present it in a report.