Examining Possible Driftwood Use in Viking Age Icelandic Boats

Abstract

While boat and ship graves are known from across northern Europe, and are particularly associated with the Viking Age, only seven examples of such monuments have been excavated in Iceland. Furthermore, no shipwrecks are known dating from this period in Iceland, and examples of boat timbers preserved by waterlogging are very rare. As such, the mineralized wood remains from these burials comprise the vast majority of direct archaeological evidence currently available for the boats used in daily life in early Iceland. This paper uses taxonomic identification of mineralized wood remains from the Icelandic boat graves, along with comparative data from Europe and Scandinavia, to discuss boat construction and repair in early Iceland, including the possibilities of driftwood utilization and the importation of boats from Norway. The economic and social significance of the practice of boat burial in Iceland is also explored, with regard to the importance of boats as transport and the limited availability of wood suitable for boat construction and repair.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, the author thanks Dr Karen Milek and Dr Andrew Cameron, who supervised the portion of this research conducted at the University of Aberdeen. The author is also very grateful to the staff of Fornleifastofnun Íslands, especially Howell Magnus Roberts, for information and productive discussions, and the National Museum of Iceland for access to materials and workspace. Thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewers whose helpful comments contributed to the improvement of this paper.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Aberdeen under a College of Physical Sciences PhD Studentship, and by a Postdoctoral Research Grant from the Centenary Fund of the University of Iceland.