Køge 2. A Clinker-built Shipwreck from the Medieval Harbour of Køge, Zealand, Denmark

Abstract

The development of a new cityscape in the old industrial harbour known as ‘Sønder Havn’ in Køge in eastern Zealand led in the summer of 2018 to the finding of a clinker-built shipwreck. The ship had been built in the 1520s, exclusively from oak, and had undergone a reinforcement in the stem some ten years after the initial building phase, hereby adding an extra outer layer of clinker planks and five riders on top of the floor timbers. The extensive dendrochronological analysis showed that the planks had been felled in the eastern Baltic area, while the floor timbers and the keel of the vessel were from somewhere in the vicinity of the Rhine’s mouth. Of the ship, only the parts below the waterline were preserved, partly due to the groundwater level but probably equally due to salvaging shortly after wrecking.