Nydam's ship: the first evidence of the shed

Excavations carried out in the Danish town of Schleswig brought to light the remains of the so-called Nydam ship, a 25-meter-long, 3.25-wide vessel from approximately AD 300 It can be considered a predecessor of Viking ships which developed about two centuries later. It was built with oak wood and its hull had five courses (lines of boards) per band that spanned the entire length. This surprised the archaeologists and gives an idea of the quality of the Anglo-Saxon shoremasters at handling such long boards and assembling them precisely in shed (with overlapping edges) with iron rivets. These courses were arranged on both sides of a large central plank as a keel that supported the frames, which were also made of a single piece, introducing the prow into the timber. The hull had the same bow and stern curvature and featured 15 batons per side, meaning it was powered by 30 rowers. A large scull to steer was carried aft, on the starboard side.

Next to Nydam's ship another ship was found, not made of oak but of spruce, which was destroyed during World War II. The latter had narrow compound courses that gave it more elasticity than the oak one and had more curved fore and aft ends. The keel plank had a T-shaped cross section that allowed it to cut through the water with less resistance. Boats such as Nydam's, especially the one built with fir wood, more typical of Scandinavian forests, represent the predecessors of the Vikings and are considered an evolution of the ancient log boats that abounded in northern Europe, especially in Scandinavia, before the 1st century AD

Nydam's boat cross section. It is an early testimony to the shed, the characteristic building system of ancient northern Europe. The plank was made up of five courses (rows of boards) per band and the keel was made up of a single board with a cross section in the shape of a T. This type of construction can be considered as the basis on which the Nordic technique of shedding was developed. . It provided very solid structures with a high resistance to breakage (the curvature that a hull acquires when crossing a wave and decreasing the buoyancy force in the bow and stern), which allowed these boats to face all kinds of marine challenges

3rd century BC: boards sewn with wicker

Maqueta de barco-NYDAM Sjöhistoriska_museet

The central section of the ship found in the Danish town of Hjörtspring dates from between 300 and 200 BC and shows a pre-shed structure. It was built with linden wood boards sewn with yew wicker and a few incipient and light frames tied together. It already had a rudimentary keel specially designed to be dragged through the sand and the structure was completed by 10 benches seated on struts that served for the 20 or so warrior-rowers to take their seats and row. It was a light craft designed for coastal assault, profusely practiced on the intricate Scandinavian coasts.