For the first time in Sweden’s long history, marine archaeologists have uncovered the wreck of a Viking ship lying in the mud at the bottom of Sweden’s biggest lake. The Swedish coastguard had a group of 50 scuba divers surveying Lake Vanern’s bottom, when they stumbled across the 20-metre long wreck.
“Never before has a Viking shipwreck been found in Swedish waters,” marine archaeologist Roland Peterson from the Vanern Museum told The Local newspaper. He explained that several Viking boats had been unearthed in Sweden before, but all of them had been on dry land.
Divers took wood and iron samples from the ship, as well as a sword and spear found within the shell of the vessel, which is covered in sediment one metre thick. Experts will now test the specimens to confirm that it is a Viking ship.
“We can’t be sure of anything until we get the dating results back, which could take around a month. But the sword did seem semi-familiar,” said Peterson. The Swedish coastguard and the Vanern Museum are conducting the joint survey to look for shipwrecks at the bottom of Lake Vanern.
Six other shipwrecks have been found within a 100-metre radius of each other. Three of them were literally lying on top of each other. Peterson feels confident the latest find is a Viking ship, but the origins of the other six ships remain unsure