Overview
- A PLOS One study reports a partial human fingerprint impressed in tar caulking on the Hjortspring boat, Scandinavia’s only intact prehistoric sewn plank vessel.
- Radiocarbon analysis dates the boat’s lime bast cordage to 381–161 BCE, placing it in the pre‑Roman Iron Age.
- Chemical profiling identifies pine pitch mixed with animal fat in the waterproofing, indicating sourcing consistent with pine‑rich Baltic coasts rather than Jutland or the Hamburg region.
- The research team plans dendrochronology of the planks and will try to extract ancient DNA from the caulking to pinpoint provenance and glean insight into the boat’s makers or users.
- Archaeologists interpret the bog deposit of the boat and weapons at Hjortspring Mose as a ritual offering after local defenders repelled a seaborne raid.