Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Gotska Sandön, which means “The Gotlandic Sand Island,” is an uninhabited island positioned north of Gotland within the Baltic Sea. It has held the standing of a nationwide park since 1909.
The island’s panorama is primarily composed of sand, that includes in depth seashores and dunes, with pine forests being a dominant characteristic. Whereas its greater fauna is proscribed, consisting primarily of gray seals and terrestrial or aerial mammals like mountain hares and bats, Gotska Sandön helps a various array of uncommon bugs and vegetation. Notably, it hosts species such because the Kashubian vetch and varied orchids.
Credit score: Ingeborg van Leeuwen – CC BY 2.0, Willi-van-de-Winkel – Public Area. Picture compilation AncientPages.com
Current archaeological research have uncovered new insights into the island’s previous. Led by Sabine Sten, Professor of Osteology at Uppsala College, alongside Professor Johan Rönnby from Södertörn College, the challenge commenced a number of years in the past and has already yielded important discoveries. Notably, at Säludden on the island, researchers have excavated a medieval burial web site, shedding mild on beforehand unknown facets of life there.
“We dug up a person with a lacking cranium. It turned out that within the early twentieth century, geology college students traveled to the island and picked up skulls, amongst different issues,” says Sten. “There’s a cranium that we all know comes from Sandön on the Uppsala College Museum, Gustavianum, however it’s not doable to say whether or not it belongs to the person we have now dug up.”
Traces Of Dramatic Occasions
Archaeological investigations reveal {that a} important occasion occurred at Säludden across the 12 months 1400. This web site could have served as a strategic location for controlling Gotland and the Baltic Sea throughout the Center Ages.
Sabine Sten excavates Particular person 1, who’s lacking a cranium. Credit score: Jon Lofthus
In response to researchers, “Säludden was doubtless a mooring and assembly place, and at instances, a vital level for management—a web site probably pivotal within the medieval battle for dominance over Gotland and the Baltic Sea.” Using trendy know-how comparable to C14 courting, DNA evaluation, and isotope evaluation, researchers can decide the origins of people who lived there and acquire insights into their existence.
Prehistoric Exercise
Researchers have made important discoveries at Gårdsbanken above Varvsbukten, documenting hearths used from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Iron Age. Amongst their findings are burnt seal bones, doubtless remnants of practice oil rendering—a vital commerce commodity on Sandön. Prepare oil was produced by boiling seal blubber, a typical observe in areas the place seals have been hunted. Moreover, pottery and Roman cash recommend in depth prehistoric exercise on the island.
Gotska Sandön is positioned close to the hazardous Salvo Reef, a web site the place quite a few ships have run aground over time. This will account for a lot of human stays discovered within the space. In response to Sten, “Folks could have drowned and floated ashore from wrecks earlier than being buried.”
Whereas direct proof of violence has not been uncovered but, there are indications of a army presence on the island; beforehand found gadgets embrace a metal gauntlet sometimes utilized by troopers.
Archaeological finds from the Center Ages and Bronze Age present that the lonely island was an essential crossroads within the Baltic Sea. Credit score: Jon Lofthus
Sten, who retired in Could, plans to proceed her analysis with Johan Rönnby in 2026 and 2027. Their focus might be on additional excavations on the burial mound at Säludden to discover the identities of those that lived on or have been shipwrecked close to the island. The researchers are collaborating with Sahlgrenska College Hospital for dental analyses and Visby Hospital for bone density measurements of medieval skeletons.
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The discoveries from Gotska Sandön are reshaping our understanding of the island’s historical past. Beforehand seen as a distant location used primarily for seasonal looking, proof now suggests it performed a major function in Baltic commerce.
In response to their analysis report, Gotska Sandön doubtless served as each a hyperlink and a crossroad between cultural areas throughout the Baltic Sea over a number of millennia. The island served as a refuge and provisioning web site, probably facilitating commerce and the trade of products. Nevertheless, there may be additionally sturdy proof suggesting that its historical past consists of piracy and plunder actions.
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Employees Author
