Just before midsummer in June of that year, Gribshunden set sail from King Hans's capital of Copenhagen, Denmark, with the monarch onboard. The special circumstances of its last voyage add unique historical context to the latest findings. "It's a well-preserved example of the enabling technologies that led to European domination of the planet after 1492."īut, despite its technological advances, the ship was struck by misfortune in 1495, sinking to its present watery grave in the Baltic Sea. "It's our best look at what those ships must have been like," Foley said. Replete with 11 iron cannons and room for 150 people onboard, the vessel was very similar to the ships sailed by 15th-century explorers such as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus. The first generation of a new style of vessel, Gribshunden was characterized by a fusion of Mediterranean and northern European shipbuilding traditions. Read more No, the Turkey earthquake didn't shift the entire country 10 feet Not just a warship, Gribshunden was an instrument of economic power, a social and cultural center, and also the focus of administrative and political functions of government." "It was quite literally his floating castle. "Hans used this artillery-carrying warship to stitch together his widespread kingdom," Foley said. The royal Danish warship Gribshunden was built in 1485 and essentially served as the mobile seat of government for King Hans. " Beyond shipwrecks, this is certainly among the most fabulous discoveries of spices in any archaeological context, on land or sea," Foley said.
The discovery includes extravagant artefacts that have rarely or never been seen before in an archaeological context.īrendan Foley, an author of the study from the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University, Sweden, told Newsweek: "This is perhaps the most thrilling haul of spices from a shipwreck because of its age, quality of the plant remains-exotic, expensive spices-and the remarkable state of preservation.
These are the origins of today's truly globalized world. The finds, documented in a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, provide a unique window into the lives of the northern European nobility in the late Middle Ages. The Danish warship "Gribshunden" (not pictured) sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in 1495. Stock image: Artist's illustration of a medieval ship.
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