Sahel Ganji / Lund University
Deer jump
The fingerprint was exceptionally well preserved in waterproofing tar. The recipe for this tar can help unravel the mystery of the origins of sailors.
One 2400 year old boatrecovered from a Danish bog, is offering new insights into the origins of Iron Age seafaring invaders, thanks to a surprising discovery that looks straight out of an episode of CSI: a preserved human fingerprint embedded in ancient waterproofing tar.
The discovery, detailed in a new paper published in PLOS One, is helping researchers track the possible origin of the attackers who once sailed on the vessel.
The ship, known as the Hjortspring boat, is the oldest wooden boat in Scandinavia and is currently on display at the National Museum of Denmark. It dates back to the pre-Roman Iron Age and was deliberately sunk in the 4th century BC as a ritual offering following a failed attack on the island of Als, off the coast of present-day Denmark.
Historical evidence suggests that about 80 maritime invaders They arrived in an armada of several boats, including the Hjortspring, but were defeated by the local inhabitants. To mark their victory, the islanders sank the captured boats, along with the attackers’ weapons and shields. The low-oxygen conditions of the marsh remarkably preserved the boat.
For decades, the origin of the invaders remained a mystery. According to , previous theories suggested that the boat could have come from the region of present-day Hamburg, based on associated artefacts. However, new chemical and materials analyzes are now being developed. challenge this hypothesis.
Led by Lund University archaeologist Mikael Fauvelle, researchers re-examined fragments of the boat that escaped chemical conservation during preparation for the museum. Among them were pieces of tar and rope, including a fragment of tar with a clear fingerprintleft by someone who probably helped maintain or repair the vessel.
Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, the team analyzed the tar and discovered that it was made from a mixture of pine resin and animal fatprobably tallow. This combination points to regions rich in pine forests, which is an important clue, as these forests were not common in northern Europe at the time.
Based on this evidence, researchers now believe that the boat probably originated somewhere along the Baltic Sea coasteast of the island of Rügen, in present-day Germany. If correct, this suggests that the invaders undertook a long and risky journey across the open sea to reach Als.
Carbon dating of the boat’s linden fiber rope confirmed its age, placing it between 381 e 161 a.C. The team also used X-ray tomography to create detailed 3D models of the tar and rope, allowing for further study of the fingerprint, although it was not possible to link it to a specific individual.
