underwater archaeology in germany

The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1996) 25.2: 141–151

News Report

Underwater archaeology in Germany

IntroductionArchaeology in water has a long traditionin Germany going back to the 19th cen-tury. It has, however, always been organ-ized as part of the regional (Lander)apparatus for general archaeological re-search and without a separate identity.That is to say, it has not been considered adiscipline in its own right nor had a nation-wide reference beyond the Lander admin-istrations. The setting up in 1993 of theKommission für Unterwasserarchaologie(Commission for Underwater Archaeol-ogy) partly redresses the balance. TheCommission was established by theVerband der Ländesarchaeologen in derBundesrepublik Deutschland (German StateArchaeologists’ Association) and consistsof eight members (box). The heads of thefive Councils for Archaeology responsiblefor the principal coastal and inland watersare members, together with internationalexperts with long experience of underwaterand maritime archaeology drawn from theneighbouring countries of Switzerland,Denmark and The Netherlands. TheCommission exists to provide guidance onarchaeological projects under water; to

give support for underwater research ofinternational significance; for the trainingand further education of underwaterarchaeologists, and finally, it aims tosharpen public awareness of the impor-tance of, and the threats to, our culturalheritage under water.This preliminary report does not claim

to be exhaustive. Many current projectsand excavations in the North and BalticSeas are not included, and not all fresh-water operations in the great rivers andlakes of Germany are covered. The aim,however is to give a representative spec-trum of underwater archaeological activityfrom the coast to the German Alps (Fig. 1,map).

I Viking Age underwater barrierEcho-sounders were used for investigatingthe Viking port of Haithabu (Hedeby)from 1980. Among the finds in the softsediments was a 10th-century bell. From1993, archaeologists have been examininga massive underwater barrier or barricadedeigned to block any approach to theHaithabu region from the sea. It was sunkabout AD 740 when the water in this arm

Ole Crumlin-Pedersen, Civ. Ing. DanishNational Museum Roskilde, Denmark

Dr Thys Maarleveld ROB, Alphen a/d RijnThe Netherlands

Dr Erwin Keller, Barvarian Council forArchaeology Munich

Dr Julia Obladen-Kauder, Rhineland Councilfor Archaeology Xanten

Dr Willi Kramer, Schleswig-Holstein Councilfor Archaeology, Schleswig

Dr Ulrich Ruoff, Bureau for ArchaeologyZurich, Switzerland

Dr Friedrich Lüth, Mecklenburg-VorpommernCouncil for Archaeology,Lübsdorf

Dr Helmut Schlichtherle, Baden-WürttembergCouncil for Archaeology, Hemmenhofen(Commission Spokesman and Chair)

1057–2414/96/020141+11 $18.00/0 ? 1996 The Nautical Archaeology Society

of the sea, the Schlei, was about 1·5 mdeep. The operations are being carried outby the underwater archaeology branchof the Schleswig-Holstein Council for

Archaeology and are backed by theBundesminister für Forschung undTechnologie (German Federal Ministryof Science and Technology). Advanced

NORTHSEA

100 km

GERMANY

BALTICSEA

SCHLEIHAITHABU

RUGEN

KAP ARKONA

ELBE

NORDHAUSENXANTEN

RH

EIN

MAINZ

DONAU

OBERSTIMM

FEDERSEE

BODMANSIPPLINGEN

UNTERUHLDINGENIMMENSTAAD

ROSENINSELKEMPFENHAUSEN

STARNBERGER SEE

BODENSEE

HORNSTAAD

..

Figure 1 Map showing sites mentioned in the text.

NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 25.2

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methods are now used including side-scansonar and sediment-penetrating sonar. Theproject is being used to test a newly devel-oped side-scan sonar which can alsopenetrate soft sediments (Fig. 2). Both‘high-tech’ side-scan sonar and sediment-penetrating sonar are now in use withsatellite position-fixing (from land-basedinstallations) with all visual records andother data stored in the archive afterprocessing. During the associated diversurveys, items detected from the sonarrecords can be identified; larger woodenstructures (such as ship parts and sectionsof the underwater barrier) are recorded insitu underwater before being dismantledand raised for conservation. Typicallythere is a team of four divers involved inthese operations.Advanced side-scan and sediment-

penetrating sonar of the same type are nowbeing employed in a project (begun in1994) to survey the estuary of the RiverElbe which debouches into the NorthSea. This is also being carried out by agroup from the Schleswig archaeologicaladministration.

II Prehistoric settlements in lakesEver since their first discovery, lake settle-ments have been regarded with awe andfascination. There have been field-studiesof this absorbing theme in Bodensee(Lake Constance) since 1856, initially totake advantage of winter’s low-waterlevels which give access to large areas ofshallow water for the search for Neolithicand Bronze-Age dwellings. ‘Fields’ of postsrunning into thousands were discoveredand thanks to the preservative qualitiesof the watery environment extraordinarilywell-preserved artefacts were recovered—including textiles, wooden implements andfood stores (Fig. 3).To begin with, no diving took place in

Bodensee—in contrast to the situation inthe lakes of western Switzerland. Byemploying low earthen dams or wooden

Figure 2 Side-scan sonar record of Haithabuunderwater barrage.

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cofferdams efforts were made to workfurther out in the shallows. From 1919to 1937 pioneers of south-west Germanarchaeology, Robert Rudolf Schmidt ofTubingen University and Hans Reinerth,made a total excavation of five settlementsfrom the Neolithic and Bronze Ageperiods, (together with natural sciencesurveys) in the Federsee, a lake 50 kmnorth of Bodensee. These settlements werereadily accessible as they lay under peat insilted-up beaches.Then, based on the experience of the

Federsee, Reinerth took the risk of exam-ining a lake dwelling in open water. At asite at Sipplingen (Bodensee) he made useof a cofferdam built of wood, clay andsteel nearly 500 m3 in size—an innovativeapproach. For the first time, extensivestretches of ‘culture’ layers were laid bare;the positions of single posts were surveyed,and plan-photographs were taken withthe aid of a tall tripod. Due, however, tothe high cost combined with technical

problems over water-penetration, excava-tions were at a standstill for a considerabletime.

More than 70 lake dwellingsAfter some preliminary surveys since1972 the Baden-Württemberg Council forArchaeology set up the ‘Bodensee-Oberschwaben-Projekt’ the aim of whichwas to make an inventory of prehistoricdwellings in lake and bog and to estimatetheir scientific importance as well as theirstate of preservation. Once more the lowwater-levels in winter helped the investiga-tions. At Hornstaad in 1980 an embank-ment of sandbags was used for the firsttime to protect large excavated areas fromflooding so that work was not disrupted.At Wangen, Sipplingen and Hornstaadsmall mobile cofferdams enabled advanceseven further out in the shallows to a depthof 0·6 m. This was rewarded with richresults. More than 70 lake dwellingswere identified along the German shoreof Bodensee/Lake Constance. A greaternumber of culture-layer sequences cameto light and, of even greater significance,samples were obtained for dendro- andcarbon-14 dating (Fig. 4). This meant thatthe many different cultural groups of theLate Neolithic and Final Neolithic can beprecisely characterized both in relation toeach other and absolutely—a problemsouth-west German archaeology hadbeen addressing for more than a centurywithout much success.There has been great progress since 1983

when the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft(DFG), the German Science Foundationestablished a special project to study thearchaeology of prehistoric settlements inthe Alpine foothills. Since the project waslaunched, two large excavations havebeen carried out: ‘Hornstaad-Hornle I’ onBodensee supervised by Bodo Dieckman,and ‘Siedlung Forschner’ on Federseeunder Erwin Keeler and Wolfgang Torke.Pumps were used to pump dry the trenches

Figure 3 Bodensee lake dwelling 4#7 m. Recon-struction drawing of house from the Hornstaad-Hornle I complex dated to c. 3900 BC by A.Kalkowski.


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in the low-water zone as well as in silted-upand overgrown lake deposits in thearea (Fig. 5). Finished in 1993 at a cost of10 million DM (£4 million sterling) partlyprovided by the DFG, these excavationshave produced fundamentally fresh in-sights into this prehistoric economy andenvironment; enhanced knowledge ofpalaeotopography and the developmentof building and other techniques as wellas of the cultural standards of the LateNeolithic and Bronze Age. Through thisspecial project an interdisciplinary teamof archaeologists and scientists has beenbrought together, involving among othersthe universities of Freiburg and Constance

and the Württembergisch Ländesmuseum(Central Museum of Württemberg) and itis equipped with appropriate laboratoriesfor dendochronology, sedimentology andarchaeo-botany. The establishment hasnow become a permanent ArchaeologicalCouncil Institution for the study and con-servation of the lake dwellings of Bodenseeand Federsee and other submerged findsand is installed in the headquartersbuilding in Hemmenhofen.

Divers take partArchaeological diving was developed inparallel with the large-scale excavations.In 1978, Ulrich Ruoff of Zurich, doyenof Swiss underwater archaeology andpalafitte specialist, made a first visit toBodensee and carried out preliminary in-vestigations in the dredged harbour areasof Sipplingen and Bodman. After thisbriefing the Baden-Württemberg team setabout its own underwater excavations.Gunter Schöbel dealt with the Late BronzeAge settlements of Unteruhlingen andHagnau; Joachim Köninger worked on theEarly Bronze Age settlement of Bodman-Schachen which was found to consist ofthree layers; Martin Kolb clarified lateNeolithic six-layer stratigraphy in theeastern harbour at Sipplingen (Fig. 6). Ithas taken several years for these studiesto be completed and analysed but nowother lake dwellings are being tackled—at Wallhausen, Bodman, Ludwigshafen,Sipplingen and Nussdorf. As over 70% ofthe Bodensee lake dwellings are perma-nently under water they can only bereached by divers and mainly in winterwhen water visibility is at its best.

Medieval craft among findsAlthough the prehistoric lake dwellings ofBodensee have archaeological priority, vari-ous other prehistoric and Medieval sites,harbours and vessels fall within the re-sponsibility of the Underwater Archaeologybranch of Baden-Württemberg (Fig. 7).

Figure 4 Finds from the culture layers inBodensee: (upper panel) ceramic pots dated toc. 1600 BC, the largest being 17 cm high; (lowerpanel) wooden comb from Hornstaad dated toc. 3900 BC, maximum length measures 82 mm.

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Moreover there are archaeologically prom-ising lakes and bogs from Bodensee up tothe Bavarian foothills of the Alps. Northof Bodensee there are numerous smalllakes in the district of Oberschwaben andthere have been several logboat finds inthis area. In the Bavarian sector, HubertBeer began underwater investigations from1984 under the auspices of the BavarianCouncil for Archaeology. One discoverywas a late Neolithic island-settlement atKempfhausen. From beneath another—aBronze-Age settlement at Roseninsel inthe Starnbergersee—a Bronze-Age logboathas been recovered. Underwater workin Bavaria has brought new insights tothis well-known island settlement, theRoseninsel site was originally identified in1864.

III Ship archaeologyThe Rhine—as with a number of navigablerivers in Germany—holds many sunken or

abandoned craft and not only in silted-upinlets but in now-forgotten landing-placesand river-ports. These are exposed throughgravel-quarrying and construction works.It takes considerable alertness and someexpertise to recognize them during quarry-ing, however, and wooden vessels areseldom reported to the responsible auth-orities. Thus, it hardly reflects the putativenumbers present that exceedingly fewwrecks have been reported from the LowerRhine. Due to the efforts of an individualwho alerted the quarry company and pub-licized the discovery, vessels from the 1stand 3rd centuries AD have been recoverednear Xanten, Lower Rhine (Fig. 8). Apartfrom a Carolingian river-boat that wasexposed there, two 1st-century Romanprams were found lying keel-up in a siltedbranch of the river under several metres ofmud and gravel. For the complex liftingoperation, the water-table in the area waslowered with the help of large pumps;

Figure 5 Aerial view of the Hornstaad excavations in winter 1988.


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then an embankment was built round thevessels and sealed with sandbags. Afterrecording, the first vessel was raised com-plete by an engineering company—35tonnes weight including the mud. Thesecond vessel was dismantled plank-by-plank on site and then stored in water-tanks so that after conservation it can bereassembled. The operation was under thesupervision of Julia Obladen-Kauder ofthe Rhineland Council for Archaeology.The Rheinisches Ländesmuseum in Bonnis now preparing the vessels for displaywhile the lengthy PEG-treatment contin-ues. Neither of the prams is fully intact asmechanical diggers and altering ground-water depths have caused damage. Oneretains a section of the stern 7 m long, andthe other has a 30-m length of hull withneither stem nor stern remaining. Bothwere built of oak and, together, these twocraft can reveal a great deal of informationabout local Roman-period barge-buildingmethods.

Middle Rhine yields five Roman warshipsIn the winter of 1981–2, five Romanwarships were revealed in the bank of theRhine near Mainz at a building siteabout 70 m from the present riverbed(Hockmann, O., IJNA 22.2: 125–136).They were located in what is thought to bean old naval harbour. The ArchaeologicalCouncil of Rhineland Pfalz set aboutrecovering them. One of the ships wasenclosed in a lifting frame securedfrom underneath and then raised in itsentirety—not an easy task considering theweight. The other vessels were cut intomanageable sections in situ so that theywere easier to handle. All were made ofoak. They were taken apart later undercover and the wood safely stored in water-tanks in a warehouse where they remaineduntil 1992. Then, the wood was transferredto a newly established Department for theConservation of Ancient Ship Remainsset up by the Romano-German CentralMuseum in Mainz. To restore the wood it

Figure 6 The divers’ work-base at Sipplingen.

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has been soaked in synthetic resin and thendried by microwave. The ships have beenon display since the end of 1994 in adisused market-hall in Mainz where therewere already some full-scale replicas onview. Here is a ‘flotilla’ of four narrowwarships each 21 m long and propelledby 15 oars a side and with a single mastfor sailing. Nearby, a smaller boat only17 m-long is on display; it might havecarried a catapult platform.The recovery of the Mainz Roman

wrecks, carried out at great expense, repre-sents a defining stage in German shiparchaeology. Apart from the specializedsalvage works, the complicated andlengthy conservation procedures involvedin treating large pieces of waterlogged oakis a major task for museums and for theArchaeological Councils. Not only is therethe size and quantity of material to tacklebut a good deal of experiment and research

is involved. Various methods of conserv-ing wood must be tried out andoptimized—not only for a specific projectbut with an eye to future programmes. Forinstance, an 18-m-long Late Medieval craft(Fig. 9) from Bodensee which was recov-ered by the Archaeological Council ofBaden-Württemberg is currently a testobject for treatment with sugar-solution—a conservation experiment being carriedout in collaboration with the DeutschesSchiffartsmuseum, Bremerhaven.In 1994, the Bavarian Council for

Archaeology, the Romano-GermanCommission and the Romano-GermanCentral Museum together recoveredseveral Roman ships from the Danube atOberstimm near Ingolstadt.

Shipwrecks off the isle of RügenBefore the reunification of Germanythe eastern coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which, with all its bays andheadlands, is 1400 km-long, was a pro-tected military zone. Diving was strictlyforbidden for civilians As a result of this,shipwrecks which were destroyed or plun-dered elsewhere remained undisturbed.They are mainly located round the isle ofRügen as its capes, especially Kap Arkona,have always been a hazard for seafarers(Fig. 10).Naturally, these wrecks are not all

intact: ripped apart by currents andreefs only ship fragments and parts ofequipment are often all that remain. Dueto the unusually good visibility in thesewaters, however, these partial artefacts arecomparatively easy to detect. On the onehand, this area provides excellent researchconditions; on the other, the threat ofwreck-plundering has increased enor-mously. To stop the plundering, theMeckleburg-Vorpommern Council for Ar-chaeology has prohibited diving in particu-larly threatened areas. Amateur divers whohave set up a local Society for UnderwaterArchaeology are being recruited by the

Figure 7Merovingian dugout found near Seekirchby the Federsee and dendro-dated to AD 670.


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authorities as underwater wardens in re-turn for the new discoveries they makebeing placed under official state protection.

Monuments of our time underwaterIn the course of reunification a greatnumber of monuments from the SecondWorld War became the responsibility ofthe FRG and the Länder. Within this newarea of responsibility there are a couple ofunderwater sites. One of the best known isthe wreck of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a pas-senger ship. She was torpedoed by a Sovietsubmarine on 30th January 1945 and sankwith 5500 people aboard. Currently, shebelongs to the German Federal State butlies 36 km off the Polish coast. In 1992,the condition of the 210 m-long wreckwas recorded by a diver-archaeologistworking from a German Navy ship with

minesweepers with all support provided bythe German government. The results havenow been analysed and compared withearlier reports and show that the centralsection of the hull has been entirely re-moved (for the steel) and the rest of thewreck has suffered further plundering tothe extent that everything not nailed orscrewed down had been taken by sports-divers, and explosives have been used toblow a large hole in the previously un-scathed stern section. The Polish authori-ties have now banned diving at the site ofthe Wilhelm Gustloff.While some plunderers salvage souvenirs

and scrap metal from a wartime disasterat sea (off Poland), others collect tech-nical souvenirs from within a hill nearNordhausen (Thüringen). In the vasttunnels and caves of the Mittelbau-Dora

Figure 8 3rd-century Roman period pram found in the river bank near Xanten, Lower Rhine (left) in situ(right) packaged for transport.

Figure 9 14th-century sailing ferry or cargo-boat from Immenstaad, Bodensee (Drawing: MichaelKinsky).

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Mines lie the remains of the wartimeV-2 missile factory. Extensive securitymeasures have failed to prevent thieving:stolen pieces fetch high prices in a suitablemarket. About 20% of the former produc-tion floor is now flooded. Now some ofthe specially trained personnel of theSchleswig Archaeological Council aremonitoring the V-2 material and plantboth above and below water, on behalfof the Thüringen authorities. This isproviding more effective protection fromthe misplaced enthusiasm for military andtechnical souvenirs of ‘collectors’ who haveno claim whatsoever to these things. Dur-ing V-2 production at Nordhausen 20,000war-time prisoners died. The relics aswell as the underground complex—thewhole monument of the Mittlebau-DoraMines—stand for their suffering.

Archaeological ‘problem children’Apart from the special research projectdevoted to the old port of Haithabu anda couple of ship ‘rescues’ carried outby the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum,Bremerhaven, underwater archaeology in

Germany is almost exclusively carried outby the Councils for Archaeology. Theunderwater ‘monuments’ themselves dic-tate this. For traditional archaeology andconservation they are ‘problem children’:most are yet unknown to us (how manyand where?); they are typically of highvalue; and, as a group they are a highly‘endangered species’—this is due to newroad and harbour work, gravel extraction,the erosion of river banks and not leastplundering by unauthorized divers. Thuswe have an unknown number of highlyvaluable but as yet unidentified ‘monu-ments’ which are in danger of beingdisturbed or destroyed.The first task is to draw up an inventory.

Monuments in rivers are of particularimportance here. The second task is tocheck them so as to be able to judge theirquality and value and to gain informationon their exact location and extent. Protec-tion and preservation of historical monu-ments are tasks that can only be carriedout in cooperation with the shipping andwater authorities of the Lander and thestate. The archaeological councils do notoppose the activities of the water and ship-ping companies but seek satisfactory com-promises. Some proposals are alreadyin hand. The Wasser- und Schiffahrts-direktion Nord–WSDN (the NorthernWater and Coastal-traffic Authority)which holds responsibility for most ofGerman coastal waters is to help with therecovery of endangered wrecks in the Elbesome of which are completely intact up toa length of 30 m. After raising they will bestored by the WSDN for the time being inartificial lakes.To obtain the full archaeological record

of the inland lakes is a race against time.Here, also, transport and building develop-ments along the shore jeopardize prehis-toric settlements as well as early shipremains. The cover of roots, lacustrine limeand sand that have preserved the under-water monuments for thousands of years is

Figure 10 Slavic trader excavated at Ralswiek onthe coast of the island of Rügen in the Baltic in1993.


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being washed away through environmentalchange (such as the disappearance of reedsin shallow water). Ancient artefacts arethreatened by increased oxygen levels duethe new regulations and the lowering of thewater-table. Therefore the objectives forprotecting and preserving historic monu-ments within inland waters are set forseveral decades.Apart from the last-minute rescue

operations, the permanent securing ofhighly significant archaeological sites haspriority. The Baden-Württemberg Councilfor Archaeology in conjunction with thelocal water authorities aim to createArchaeological Reservations or Reserves.Two critical sites in Bodensee—the lakedwellings in the Bay of Wangen and theeastern harbour of Sipplingen—have nowhad geo-textiles installed to give wide-spread general protection against soil ero-

sion. On the Federsee a number of largereed-beds are being purchased to stabilizean enhanced water-table for the Reserves.Reports of work in progress in under-

water archaeology are now publishedquarterly in Archaologie in Deutschlandand in respective periodical reports of theLander; for example: Kramer, W., (1995)Das Seesperrwerk bein Reesholm inder Schei. Archaologie Nachtichten ausSchleswig-Holstein 6: 42–53.—Archaologieinter Wasser 1. Archaologische Informa-tionen aus Baden-Wurttemberg 33(Stuttgart, 1995) 167 pages.

H. Schlichtherle and W. KramerCommission für Unterwasserarchaologie,Landesdenkmala Baden-Württemberg,

Fischersteig 9,Hemmenhofen

D-78343, Germany

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underwater archaeology in germany

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