Excavation of the hostage boat
the excavation
The excavation revealed an incredibly well-preserved clinker-built boat from around 1130. At over seven metres long and one and a half metres wide, the Gislinge boat was an important means of transport on the fjords. It had room for both oars and a mainsail. Wear marks in the wood showed that it had been used extensively – patched and repaired again and again.
The boat was built of oak with frames fastened with wooden and iron nails, a construction method typical of the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. The boat's original iron nails had rusted away, but left clear impressions in the wood.
During the excavation, it was noted that the keel was badly worn, indicating that the boat had been in use for perhaps up to 50 years. The archaeologists also found traces of repair patches, where oak and beech had been used to patch cracks and fissures in the hull.
Image 1: From the excavation of the Gislinge Boat in Gislinge, northwest of Holbæk, in 1993. Photo Holbæk Museum / National Museum.
An interesting detail was a reel, a carved wooden part that had supported a crossbeam in the boat's construction. This reel is clearly visible in the exhibition today. The original mast was not preserved, but the hole for the mast in the middle frame confirmed that the boat had been sail-bearing.
Image 2: The excavation of the Gislinge boat seen obliquely from the stern. The shape is well preserved. Photo Morten Gøthche.
Image 3. A finely crafted reel found inside the Gislinge boat. The reel was placed in a frame and supported one of the boat's beams or crossbeams that lay across the frame. Photo: Linda Henriksen, Nordfoto.
Combined with other boat finds, such as the Gokstad ferry from Norway, the excavation confirmed that the Gislinge boat was a typical workboat from the period, used for both transportation and fishing.
