Bronze Age Scandinavians Crossed The Sea Before The Vikings – New Computer Model Reveals

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A recent study has unveiled fascinating insights into the seafaring capabilities of people living in Bronze Age-era Denmark, suggesting they may have been able to travel directly over the open sea to Norway. As previously discussed, historically, Neolithic Scandinavians utilized skinboats for trade and long-distance travel. The Pitted Ware Culture (PWC), a hunter-gatherer society from 3500 to 2300 B.C.E., migrated from the East and settled in what is now Scandinavia, leaving behind distinctive pottery with deep pits.

Boat petroglyph, Tanum, Sweden. Credit: Tulipasylvestris – CC0

Research indicates that the PWC extensively navigated the Baltic Sea and nearby straits, evidenced by lithic tools and materials sourced from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Globally, during this period, many cultures used dugout canoes made from hollowed-out logs; however, these small vessels were unsuitable for open sea due to their instability.

This time, researchers have focused on Bronze Age cultures in northern Denmark and southwestern Norway to explore ancient Scandinavian sea crossings further. These regions share similar artifacts and cultural practices likely facilitated by coastal voyages along a 700-kilometer route through Scandinavia.

In this new study led by Boel Bengtsson at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, a computer modeling tool was developed to simulate ancient maritime journeys using environmental data such as currents and wind patterns. The team focused on reconstructing trips with a model of the Hjortspring boat—a large paddle-driven canoe dating back to around 350 BCE.

Seafaring and navigation in the Nordic Bronze Age: The application of an ocean voyage tool and boat performance data for comparing direct open water crossings with sheltered coastal routes. Photo by Knut Valbjørn. Boel Bengtsson, CC-BY 4.0

The simulations suggest that Bronze Age people could potentially have traveled directly across more than 100 kilometers of open ocean between Denmark and Norway if equipped with boats capable of handling waves up to one meter high under favorable weather conditions, long before the Vikings.  Such direct voyages would likely be limited to summer months due to weather constraints but offered an alternative route compared with longer coastal journeys requiring multiple weeks.

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“These new agent-based simulations, applied with boat performance data of a Scandinavian Bronze Age type boat, demonstrate regular open sea crossings of the Skagerrak, including some 50 km of no visible land, likely commenced by 2300 BC, as indicated by archaeological evidence,” the researchers wrote in their study published in PLOS ONE.

Beyond these findings on Scandinavian crossings during the Bronze Age era itself lies broader potential: this modeling approach can be adapted for studying seafaring involving any vessel type given adequate information about its hull shape or specifications—opening doors toward understanding ancient navigation worldwide even better!

Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer