Biggest fragment of 17-century boat found in Arkhangelsk

ARCTIC TODAYBiggest fragment of 17-century boat found in Arkhangelsk The Northern Maritime Museum's Director Evgeny Tenetov said that the ship was stitched, not builtARKHANGELSK, July 21. /TASS/. The biggest ever fragment of a Pomor ship's side was found in Arkhangelsk. The ship was stitched, not built, the Northern Maritime Museum's Director Evgeny Tenetov told TASS. The side board is made of split planks connected with spruce branches. "The biggest ever piece of a Pomor ship's side was found in Arkhangelsk. Pine planks, spruce twigs. The top is 90 cm, the bottom is 153 cm, the right side is 98 cm, and the left side is 80 cm. The kokora is 2.3 meters long," he said. Kokora is the part of a pine or spruce trunk with a large lateral root located at an angle to the trunk. Kokora was used to make the vessel's base. The fragment was discovered by specialists of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology during archaeological works in downtown Arkhangelsk. The find was given to the Northern Maritime Museum. The side boards of 6-7 centimeters thick and 23 centimeters wide are stitched with spruce twigs. Experts could see that the boards were not sawn, they were chipped. That is, the log was not sawed, it was split with wedges, and then obtained boards were hewn with an axe. Given the thickness and width of the found boards, the vessel could have been up to 25 meters long. Invited experts, Sergey Kukhterin of the Northern Archeology Company, and Pavel Filin, Deputy Director of the Arctic Museum and Exhibition Center, Candidate of Historical Sciences, have initially dated the find to the 17th century. "Specialists will be able to date the find more accurately after dendro-chronology tests," the museum's director said. "This board is highly likely part of the legendary Pomor koch (a small one-or two-mast wooden sailing ship), which the Pomors used to sail to Mangazeya and explore Siberia in the early 17th century." Quite probably, the side's fragment was used as a decking after the ship was disassembled. This tradition is typical for many maritime cultures. The Northern Maritime Museum now is facing the task of preserving the found artifact. The museum's experts will conduct initial conservation and subsequent restoration, and as the work is completed, the board will become part of the museum's permanent exhibition. Ship stitching technology According to the Pomors' technology of stitching ships, side boards were sewn together with twisted and boiled branches of spruce or pine. Every upper board partially overlapped the lower one. The seams between side boards were caulked with moss. The Northern Maritime Museum exposes a small fragment of such a side: two stitched thin side boards of a karbas. Karbases are sailing and rowing fishing, hunting and transport wooden vessels, common at least since the 15th century till now on the White and Barents Seas. In 2016, a stitched Pomor boat was found on the Oransikiye Islands in the north of Novaya Zemlya. In 2022, the Arctic Floating University expedition managed to transport the artifact from the archipelago. Further on, during the research, scientists determined that the boat was made in about 1691 on the Karelian coast of the White Sea. In 2023, the Pomor Shipbuilding Association's shipyard restored the ancient stitching technology by having sewed up the Matera karbas. In 2024, the Mangazeya Seaway expedition was carried out on that karbas. Right now, the shipyard is using this ancient technology to make a koch vessel. 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