Байгалийн хийн хоолой тавих ажлын бэлтгэлийн үеэр Грейфсвалдын буланд хийсэн судалгаагаар 17-р зууны үед хамаарах эртний хөлөг онгоцны үлдэгдлийг олж илрүүлэв.
Германы хойд хэсэгт орших Грейфсвалдын буланд байгалийн хийн хоолой татах төслийн өмнөх далайн ёроолын судалгааны явцад археологийн чухал олдвор илэрчээ. 2023 онд хийсэн энэхүү судалгаагаар далайн ёроолоос 400 орчим жилийн настай хөлөг онгоцны хэсгүүд, гутлын ул, дүүгүүр болон зэвэрсэн зангуу зэрэг эд зүйлс олдсон байна. Археологичид барилгын ажил эхлэхээс өмнөх богино хугацаанд 12 хоногийн турш 22 удаагийн шумбалт хийж, олдворуудыг баримтжуулан авчээ.
Олдсон хөлөг онгоцны их биеийг “клинкер” буюу хавтангуудыг дээврийн ваар мэт давхарлан угсрах аргаар хийсэн нь тогтоогдсон байна. Модны цагирагт хийсэн шинжилгээгээр уг хөлгийг 1626-1639 оны хооронд барьсан болохыг тогтоожээ. Мөн онгоцноос 60 гаруй эд зүйл, тэр дундаа мужааны багаж хэрэгсэл олдсон нь хөлөг онгоц урт хугацааны аяллын үеэр засвар үйлчилгээ хийх зориулалттай багажтай байсныг илтгэж байна.
Судлаачид онгоцны сүйрлийн шалтгааныг одоогоор эцэслэн тогтоогоогүй байна. Олдворуудын дунд байсан нүхтэй шавар тоосго нь ямар зориулалттай болох нь тодорхойгүй байгаа бөгөөд үүнийг багаж ирлэхэд ашигладаг байсан байж болзошгүй гэсэн таамаг дэвшүүлжээ. Мөн онгоцны модны зарим хэсэгт түлэгдсэн ул мөр байгаа нь гал түймэр гарсан байх магадлалыг үүсгэж байгаа ч археологичид баримт нотолгоогүйгээр таамаг дэвшүүлэхээс болгоомжилж байна.
Энэхүү олдвор нь Балтын тэнгисийн 17-р зууны үеийн далай тэнгисийн түүхийг судлахад үнэтэй мэдээлэл өгч байгаа юм. Байгалийн хийн хоолойн төслийн чиглэлийг өөрчилж, уг хөлөг онгоцны үлдэгдлийг элсэн уутаар бүрхэн хамгаалалтад авчээ. Одоогоор уг олдвор нь түүхийн нууцыг хадгалсан хэвээр байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Divers sent to clear underwater obstructions ahead of a gas pipeline project in northern Germany’s Bay of Greifswald stumbled onto something nobody expected. They found a scattered remains of a ship built roughly four centuries ago. Shoe soles, pulley blocks, and a corroded anchor were the first clues that this was no ordinary cluster of debris. What followed was a hurried excavation race, one that offered archaeologists a rare, if fragmentary, window into 17th-century Baltic seafaring.
The Bay of Greifswald, a sheltered lagoon that once served as a passage between the Baltic Sea and the Oder River, has become something of a hotspot for such discoveries. As offshore energy projects, gas, oil, and renewable, multiply in the region, so do the number of underwater anomalies that turn out to be historic wrecks.
Most are flagged early enough for proper excavation detailed in a preliminary report in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, shows how unpredictable these finds can be, and how tight the window sometimes is to study them before construction resumes.
A Race Against the Dredger
Once the wreck was identified in 2023, there was no room for delay. According to the study, a team of five archaeologists carried out 22 dives over just 12 days, working against the looming start of dredging work. Conditions were far from ideal, because the shipwreck sat about 25 feet below the surface, resting on a soft, silty seabed where even minor disturbances from the divers clouded the water almost instantly.
Everything recovered was documented on deck and placed in temporary water storage to limit further deterioration. Despite the team’s efforts, much of the ship had simply not survived the centuries, or the environment it had spent them in.
Piecing Together a Clinker-Built Vessel
What little remained told a coherent story. The ship hull’s planks had been layered like roof shingles, a technique known as clinker construction, fastened with iron nails and sealed with a mixture of tar and animal hair. Tree-ring analysis of one preserved timber narrowed the ship’s construction window considerably: the wood had been felled sometime between 1626 and 1639.
In total, researchers catalogued more than 60 objects, including rope, barrel staves, wooden stocks, and a hollowed oak trunk that likely functioned as a bilge pump. A set of carpentry tools, including the handle of a hand drill comparable to examples found aboard the Tudor warship Mary Rose, hinted that the vessel carried its own onboard workshop, presumably to handle repairs during long voyages.
Personal items were sparse, just two shoe soles and a stitched leather strap, alongside animal bones suggesting the crew had dined on pork and either sheep or goat.
An Unsolved Object, and an Unsolved Ending
Not everything recovered has been explained. A flat clay brick, pierced with holes and lodged inside a block of oak, has no known parallel among other wrecks. The study’s authors suggest it may have been an improvised device for sharpening dulled tools like chisels and drill bits, though the object’s true purpose remains unclear.
“I had no idea what it was, but I really wanted to solve the mystery,” said Michał Grabowski, an underwater archaeologist at the University of Warsaw who worked on the excavation. “And I still very much want to.”
The ship’s fate is similarly uncertain. Some timbers show signs of burning, raising the possibility of a fire, while the presence of two anchors and a buoy typically used to mark a deployed anchor suggests the vessel may have been anchored at the time it sank. Grabowski, however, is wary of drawing firm conclusions.
“I try not to speculate,” he said. “Otherwise, we risk creating an alternative history.”
The pipeline itself was ultimately rerouted, and the wreck now lies protected beneath sandbags, a time capsule, as Grabowski put it, still waiting to reveal more of its story.
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