Salme yields evidence of oldest sailing ship in Baltic sea
- On 11/08/2011
- In Parks & Protected Sites
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By Sigrid Maasen - Estonian Public Broadcasting
The ancient ship burial site in Salme on the island of Saaremaa still has some surprises in store.
The archeological excavations in Salme, soon to be completed, have yielded evidence that the ship that had been buried with 35 warriors and nobles had a keel, which in turn leads to the conclusion that it used sails.
This represents the earliest known use of sails on a vessel in the Baltic Sea region, reported ETV.
"One piece of new information that we have been anticipating since winter was still to be found - namely, confirmation of whether it was a sailing ship or not. Now we have evidence that it used sails," said archeologist Jüri Peets of Tallinn University.
Peets called this discovery the cherry on top of the cake that was the nearly two-year-long archeological dig. "It is thought that sails were first introduced in the North Sea and Baltic Sea region at about 700 A.D., which is the conventional date.
Our ship dates from the year 750. The ship from the year 700 was from the North Sea region, near Norway. However, here in the Baltic Sea region, this is without a doubt the oldest sailing ship that has been found," said Peets.
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