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Simulating Sea Surfaces for Modeling Viking Age Seafaring in the Baltic Sea

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Simulating Sea Surfaces for Modeling Viking Age Seafaring in the Baltic Sea Simulating Sea Surfaces for Modeling Viking Age Seafaring in the Baltic Sea George Indruszewski1 and C. M. Barton2 1Viking Ship Museum Roskilde, Denmark 2School for Human Evolution and Social Change Arizona State University Tempe, AZ, USA [email protected] Abstract Inferences in nautical and maritime archaeology about sailing routes in the Viking Age in Northern Europe are based today almost entire- ly on historical information coupled with results gained from experimental archaeology. The authors propose here a third method, which combines computer simulation with the aforementioned information sources. These sources are used together with digital bathymetric models (DBM’s) of the Baltic seafloor, wind, current, and other real sailing parameters to create cost surfaces for modeling early medi- eval seafaring. Real sailing data obtained in the summer of 2004 with the Viking Age replica, Ottar, are used to model sea routes in the Baltic Sea. Both GIS-Esri and GRASS GIS are compared as modeling tools and used in least-cost path and anisotropic spread analyses to simulate sea routing in prehistoric land- and seascapes across which humans traveled more than a thousand years ago. The results of the study are evaluated in the context of experimental archaeology and modern sailing conditions in the Baltic Sea. 1 Introduction Maritime archaeology and, especially, historical research Blecingæg ond Meore ond Eowland ond Gotland dealing with Viking Age seafaring, have tried for a long time on bæcbord, ond Þas land hyrað to Sweon. Ond Weonodland wæs us ealne weg on steorbord oð to decipher the reasons behind the choice of a specific sea Wislemuðan. Seo Wisle is swyðe mycel ea ond itinerary connecting medieval trading centers in the Baltic hio tolið Witland ond Weonodland; ond Þaet realm. The problem is complex because explicit itinerar- Witland belimpeð to Estum; ond seo Wisle lið ut of ies from that period do not actually exist and the literates Weonodlande ond lið in Estmere; ond se Estmere who have laid them on the parchment for the posterity used is huru fifteen mila brad. Þonne cymeð Ilfing their epoch’s writing style and conventions. This is the case, eastan in Estmere of ðaem mere, ðe Truso standeð for example, with the early 13th century King Valdemar’s in staðe, ond cumað ut samod in Estmere, Ilfing Itinerary from Utlängan (Sweden) to Reval (Estonia) where eastan of Estlande ond Wisle suðan of Winodlande. the route follows the Swedish coastline in earnest (Varenius Ond Þonne benimð Wisle Ilfing hire naman, ond ligeð of Þaem mere west ond norð on sae; for 1995:189-194). Adam of Bremen’s late 11th century ecclesi- ðy hit man haet Wisle muða.1 (Alfred’s Orosius astic history, on the other hand, listed only the main descrip- Chorographia, 20) tive elements of a sea voyage: the departure point, the destination, and the time spent in reaching the destination (Adam of Bremen II, 22, in Schmeidler 1917:80). The English translation of the text (Bately in press) The situation becomes even more difficult when address- informs us that Wulfstan sailed for seven days and nights ing the problem in the Viking Age period (8th to 11th century from Haidaby, in the lower Schlei Fjord (in today’s AD), for which very few written sources are available for Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) to Truso, near the Vistula the interested scholar. One such source is the account of River mouth (identified archaeologically with Janowo Wulfstan, from the late 9th century AD Orosian history of Pomorski, located ca. 4 km south of Elbląg in Eastern King Alfred the Great, containing a short description of a Pomerania, Poland) (Figure 1). During the voyage, he had real sea voyage. on his starboard side Weonodland, that is the Land of the Wends in southern Baltic, to the port were the islands under Wulfstan sæde Þæt he gefore of Hæðum, Þæt he Danish overlordship (Langeland, Lolland, and Falster), fol- wære on Truso on syfan dagum ond nihtum, Þæt lowed by Bornholm, Möre, Blekinge, Öland, and Gotland Þæt scip wæs ealne weg yrnende under segle. (the latter belonging to the Svear). Weonoðland him wæs on steorbord ond on bæcbord him wæs The text is important for several reasons. Its briefness, Langaland ond Læland ond Falster ond Sconeg, composition, and informal content point altogether to a ond Þas land eall hyrað to Denemearcan. Ond description of a real sea voyage that happened sometime Þonne Burgenda land wæs us on bæcbord, ond in the second half of the 9th century AD, thus making the Þa habbað him sylf cyning. Þonne æfter Burgenda text one of the very few sailing narratives of the Viking Age lande wæron us Þas land Þa synd hatene ærest Baltic Sea that survived up to our times. 616 Figure 1. Grid locations (white “+”) of wind and current data collected for the Baltic Sea for July 2004; historical place-names are in yellow (Haidaby, Weonodland, Weonodland, Trusco), other place names are white. Furthermore, its uniqueness lies not only in its narrative the Bauyeux Tapestry and other medieval historical sources, power of a sea voyage, but also in the fact that it is men- Crumlin-Pedersen pioneered a novel conceptual approach tioning sea travel between two important, archaeologically- to early Medieval Norse navigation that emphasized the documented, trading centers from the Viking Age Baltic: importance of depth sounding. He suggested that Wulfstan Haidaby (Haithabu) and Truso (Janowo Pomorski). Last used sounding to follow a pre-selected bathymetric line (he but not least, the text provides us with informational clues proposed using the –10 or –20 m depth lines) running along related to the way navigation was accomplished at that time. the southern Baltic coastline, from the mouth of the Schlei In the narrative, the author displays a geographical knowl- to the mouth of the Vistula (1983: 42-43). In other words, edge employing a maritime orientation system with the ship Crumlin-Pedersen argued that the primary orientation sys- as the central point. That is, he does not orient the coastlines tem for the Viking Age navigator was below the waterline and islands in relation to each other, but in relation to the and not above it, and that coastal sailing was the main type sailing ship. This contrasts with Alfred’s Orosius orientation of navigation knowledge for that period. Besides the fact system(s) (Korhammer 1985:251-269), and is also unique that the author used iconographic and historical sources among historical sources in general. Paradoxically, but not reflecting a post-Viking Age reality, the proposed construct unexpected, it is least ambiguous in terms of cardinal direc- conflicts not only with the Wulfstan’s textual information, tions. When Wulfstan said that the islands under Danish but also with the character of his voyage. His sea voyage suzerainty were on the port side, and that Weonodland was was routine sailing, which required neither sounding navi- on starboard all the way until the Vistula mouth, it is clear gation nor coastal sailing, and this statement is supported that his ship sailed on a general course from west to east. not only by the historical text itself but also by the following arguments: 1. As a method of orientation at sea, sounding was 2 The Research Issue documented in Northern Europe later in the Middle Ages, although it was known since Herodotus’ times Nevertheless, that is all the text explicitly indicates, and in the Mediterranean region. And when documented, the specific routing is left to more speculative hypothe- sounding is mentioned only in relation to landing or ses like the one envisioned by Crumlin-Pedersen in 1983 approaching a coastline. (1983:32-44). Relying upon iconographic evidence from 617 With onshore winds it is advisable to keep well off- 2. The route of Wulfstan could not have followed a shore until the weather improves before attempting specific isobath line since a high resolution DBM of a landfall. (Baltic Pilot 2002:337) the Baltic Sea bottom clearly shows the sinuosity of these lines. In fact, the route that Crumlin-Pedersen If Wulfstan sailed non-stop for seven days and nights, proposed crosses several of these isobaths repre- and the shortest linear distance between departure and arrival senting some tens of meters in depth variation—an points is 390 nautical miles (Nmi), the average minimum unlikely route for a navigator supposedly following speed of his vessel was 2.3 knots (or 55 Nmi for a 24-hour a constant depth. day). The more the vessel departed from this straight-line 3. Crumlin-Pedersen’s route also puts an important route, the longer the distance it would have travelled and the island, Fehmarn, on the port side. But this is not men- greater the average speed would have been needed to be to tioned in the Wulfstan text. Furthermore, Fehmarn make the voyage in the recorded seven days. Although we was a part of the Wendland until the mid-12th century do not know Wulfstan’s actual travel speed or his routing, and was not mentioned by Wulfstan together with the historical account does provide a set of geographical and the isles under Danish suzerainty to the portside. In temporal constraints within which the voyage took place. the last decades of the 11th century, Adam of Bremen Thus, the northern sailing boundary is defined by the south- considered Fehmarn integral part of the Wendish ern limits of the Danish archipelago, while the southern sail- lands: ing boundary follows the southern coastline of the Baltic, including its affiliated islands. In navigational parlance, the Quarum prima Fembre vocatur. Haec opposita est Danish isles must remain on port while the Wendish (Slavic) Wagris, ita ut videri posit ab Aldinburg, sicut illa, lands would always stay on the starboard side.
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