New dendrochronological sampling

Dendrochronology, the science of tree-ring dating, has already been able to find out a lot about our Hansa ship. For example, that the ship was built in the 1640s and sailed until the end of the 1650s. We also know that the wood comes from different regions in the Baltic Sea area.

The current sampling is aimed at identifying groups among the timbers used, in order to be able to determine the year of construction of the ship more precisely on the one hand, and to be able to narrow down the region of origin of the ship's timbers even better on the other. So far, we know that the oak planks came from Scania and the pine planks from the Dalarna region and the Åland Islands. The frame parts, however, seem to have been purchased from various areas. Accordingly, these parts have been given special attention. In the photo, Daniel Balanzategui from the Dendrolaboratory of the Technical University of Lübeck is taking a sample from a so-called floor timber, a frame part running across the keel.

Photo: F. Rösch.