Salme ships

The Salme ships are two clinker-built ships of Scandinavian origin discovered in 2008 and 2010 near Salme village on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. Both ships were used for ship burials here around AD 700-750 in the Nordic Iron Age and contained the remains of more than 40 warriors killed in battle, as well as numerous weapons and other artifacts.

The first ship was discovered in 2008 during earth removal for infrastructure construction. An archaeological expedition has been working on site since 2008. The second ship was discovered in 2010. It is possible that at least one more ship is yet to be discovered during future excavations.

The ships were located near the ancient coastline, about 1.5 m above water level. The location is 230 m from the present coastline and 4 m above present water level.

Both Salme ships are clinker-built and archaeologists has estimated their time of construction to be AD 650-700 in Scandinavia. There are signs indicating they have been repaired and patched for decades, before making the final voyage. One of the ships is 11.5 m long and 2 m wide, the second one more than 17 m long and 3 m wide. None of them had mast or sails, and they would have been rowed for short distances along the Baltic coast, or between islands in order to reach their destinations. Or straight across the Baltic, as rowing longer distances has proved perfectly feasible time and again in modern times. This is also indicated by the Old Norse word for distance across water "vikusjö, vikja" the distance to row before changing rowers, a distance of ca 4,2 nautical miles.

Skeletal remains from at least 42 individuals were discovered in the two ships. Most of them belonged to 30–40 years old males who had been killed in battle. Analysis of some of the teeth, combined with the design of the buried artifacts, suggest that the men came from central Sweden. The smaller ship contained the skeletal remains of 7 individuals. There were at least 36 individuals buried in four layers in the large ship.

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