‘Unique’ 500-year-old chest — intended for battle — found on shipwreck in Sweden
In the chilly waters off the southern coast of Sweden, the remnants of a once-proud ship sit on the seafloor. The 500-year-old wreckage used to carry the flag of a Scandinavian king.
Now, as divers recently discovered, the shipwreck carries echoes of long-gone battles.
The ship, referred to as both the Griffin and the Gribshunden, sank near Stora Ekön in 1495 after a fire broke out onboard, Stockholm University said in an April 18 news release. Divers began investigating the wreckage in 2013.
Last year, a team of underwater archaeologists did several dives focused on locating traces of the soldiers who once sailed on the 500-year-old ship.
Their most significant find was a “unique weapon chest,” the university said.
Previous divers noticed the chest, but its contents remained a mystery — until now.
“The contents of the weapon chest are undeniably one of the most important finds,” the lead underwater archaeologist Rolf Warming said in the release.
“It’s an ammunition tool chest,” Warming said. “It contains, among other things, several different molds and lead plates for the manufacture of lead bullets for early handguns.”
The chest “probably (belonged) to the German mercenaries who were on board at the time of the sinking,” he said.
The 500-year-old chest is evidence of the larger shift taking place in naval warfare during the late 1400s and 1500s. During this early modern period, “the primary tactics shifted from hand-to-hand combat to heavy naval artillery fire,” Warming said.
The recent dives also identified the ruins of “elevated combat platforms,” the university said. The wood from these platforms was preserved but scattered around the wreck.
Fragments of a chainmail shirt were also found on the shipwreck, the university said, sharing a photo featuring the chainmail’s small interlocking rings. A close-up analysis of the material noticed a variation in weaves, evidence that it had been damaged and repaired.
In its original form, the chainmail shirt “may have contained up to 150,000 rings,” the university said.
Investigations at the shipwreck will likely continue.
Stora Ekön is a small island off the southern coast of Sweden, about 315 miles southwest of Stockholm, and in the Baltic Sea.
This story was originally published April 19, 2024 at 8:56 AM with the headline "‘Unique’ 500-year-old chest — intended for battle — found on shipwreck in Sweden."
