Long Before Vikings, Skin Boats Allowed Early Scandinavians to Rule the Seas

While it’s long been known that Neolithic Scandinavians had a seafaring tradition, the exact type of boats they used has been a subject of debate. Now, archaeologists believe they have an answer: These ancient people likely built boats with animal skin frames, similar to the umiaks constructed by the Inuit.

Long before Vikings came along around 800 CE, southern Scandinavia was inhabited by a people known as the Pitted Ware culture, which lasted from around 3500 BCE to 2300 BCE. Evidence suggests these hunter-gatherers were adept at maritime transportation, but intact boat remains from the era have been scarce, so it’s been difficult to say what kind of vessels they used.

In the paper , published in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology, Mikael Fauvelle, a researcher at Sweden’s Lund University, and his colleagues presented several pieces of evidence that, taken piece by piece, aren’t conclusive, but form a strong argument when taken together. Those included boat fragments found in Sweden that have rounded bottoms and lashing holes that could have been used to tie skins to the frames, though it’s unclear if those boats belonged to Pitted Ware peoples.

They also cited Scandinavian rock art found in areas either inhabited by PWC people, or neighboring their territory. Alongside images of whales, seals, and fish, there were etches of boats with stick figures of people appearing to have a standing posture: a body position normally associated with skin boats, as opposed to the sitting position common to canoes. Some of the boats in the sketches were drawn with elk-headed bows, which may have served as harpoon rests, similar to those found on umiaks.

Other evidence includes large amounts of seal oil found at PWC sites—a material that would have been perfect for waterproofing skin boats. The archaeologists also noted that PWC sites have been dotted with remains of seals and Atlantic cod, both of which would have required boats capable of heading far from shore.

That’s not to say the PWC didn’t use canoe-like boats dug out of trees. As time went on, some evidence suggests they did eventually adopt this model, though likely reserved these boats for duties that were close to land. The skin boats were likely better suited to other uses.

“Compared to logboats, we argue in the paper that skin boats would have been better for long distance and open ocean transport,” Fauvelle told Phys.org.

Because the PWC left no written record behind, Fauvelle acknowledged in the paper that it may be impossible to ever conclusively prove they used skin boats. Still, he believes that because these types of boats are so well suited to traveling long distances, they may have played a role in expanding trade, as well as allowing the early Scandinavians to get a taste for raiding.

So, in essence, the PWC may have been hipsters of the time, raiding the coasts of Europe before the Vikings made it cool.