Probe for 1,000-year-old Viking ship
LONDON (AFP) - An archaeologist using radar technology said Monday he has found the outline of what he believes is a 1,000-year-old Viking longship under a pub car park in north-west England.
Professor Stephen Harding used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to trace the outline of a vessel matching the scale and shape of a longship, perhaps from the time Vikings settled in Meols, on the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside.
Meols has one of Britain's best preserved Viking settlements, buried deep beneath the village and nearby coastal defences.
Harding, from the University of Nottingham in east central England, is now seeking funds to pay for an archaeological dig to search for the vessel which lies beneath two-to-three metres of waterlogged clay.
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posted by David Beard @ 09:46
6 Comments
6 Comments:
The story contains a number of inaccuracies and speculations. Prof Harding is not an archaeologist. The idea that this is a Viking boat is highly speculative; it could be any date from 600 AD to the 19th century - there is not enough information on the boat to be able to tell. There is no evidence at all that the Viking settlement of Meols is preserved; if there were a settlement there, there is every possibility that in common with much else along this coastline it has been lost to erosion. If the boat really is medieval, which is not proven, the correct response should be to schedule it to ensure that it is preserved
Another classic case of over-reporting by the Press. My understanding is that Harding said it appears to be a very old vessel that MAY be Viking age and that its depth and position excludes a modern boat. His suggestion - after consultation with appropriate experts - is based on the clinker design from the report of the discoverer in 1938 and its position and depth confirmed by the Ground Penetrating radar studies he directed, together with substantial historical evidence from the area. Wirral - of which Meols (Viking name meaning "sandbank") is only a small part - was once home to a major Viking colony with its own assembly at Thingwall - one of only two in England. Recent genetic studies has confirmed significant Scandinavian blood in the old population there and in neighbouring West Lancashire.
Harding's suggestion was made after close consultation with experts in Oslo, including Dr. Paasche - who IS an archaeoloist and a leading world authority on medieval shipping. Paasche has suggested it may be a "seksring" a medium sized transport vessel.
The find was correctly reported in the Norwegian press (in Dagbladet and Aftenposten) end of October/early November 2007, and both Harding and Paasche were correctly quoted.
Opinions vary amongst archaeologists as to what the correct procedure should be when a potentially major find is discovered but preservation is indeed the overriding responsibility. Disappointingly this potentially major find was reported by the discoverer as long ago as 1991 only to be filed away and concealed from public knowledge - until now.
There is insufficient evidence to date the boat and it is simply speculation to conclude that it is Viking without good evidence to prove it. The repeated suggestion in the press that it is Viking can only have originated from Mr Harding. This is no more than wishful thinking on the part of the chief publicist of the find. As a scientist, one might expect a more rigorous approach to the acquisition and examination of evidence before making what are widely regarded as highly speculative claims. There is no reason to favour a Viking interpretation over later, and indeed the balance of probability must be that the boat is later in date.
I agree with 3 anonymous contributors. It's good to read something rational rather than romantic speculation. However, it is understandable that the media get fanciful as most punters enjoy a good yarn.
Your second annonymous contributor is quite correct; the journalist to whom I have spoken has confirmed that Harding did indeed suggest the ship was probably Viking. What a pity none of the journalists asked Harding how exactly "Nordic clinker design" differs from clinker design!
There are some priceless quotes to be found though; I particularly enjoyed "its position and location suggests it may be a transport vessel from the Viking settlement" being followed immediately by "how it got there is hard to say" Marvellous!
The GPR equipment appears to have come from a contact in the Police; Harding shelled out £450 for the hire thereof, but got a pretty good return for someone who appears to be entirely motivated by self-promotion and publicity to the exclusion of all other factors. Like truth and evidence for instance.
This is of course the same Harding, self-styled "Wirral's Viking Expert", who was all over the papers in 2004 claiming to have proved that the Great Battle of 937 (Brunanburh) took place on Brackenwood Golf Course, Wirral (no evidence); who was on the front of The Wirral News in 2006 claiming that John Stanley of Storeton Hall, Wirral was either the author or patron of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' 9no evidence); who's books and lectures helpfully inform people that Leasowe, Wirral could well be the place where Cnut tried to turn back the tide (!!!!)...
I could go on all day, but I'd recommend checking out Harding for yourselves although be warned; it's more the realm of the psychologist than the historian.
...And as for the identity of your second anonymous contributor, Hmm, I reckon I could name that quack in one..... X
erratum
Sorry to whoever wrote the eminently sensible second anonymous contribution; I did, of course, mean the first anonymous contributor in that final rant.
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