Riverboat Found
The riverboat from Krefeld
Wreck of medieval flat-bottomed riverboat found in the Danube…
Hungarian Archaeologists believe they have found an intact medieval shipwreck in the Danube river at Tahitótfalu, about 18 miles North of Budapest
A preliminary survey has revealed that the ship was about 12 meter long and 3 meterwide. According to Discovery News - the archaeologists could distinguish “oak floor planks, floor-timbers and L-shaped rails”. They also noticed that the junction piece of the bottom and the side wall of the wreck was carved from a single log.
Sofar the riverboat has not been accurately dated. The find is in itself remarkable as only a few of such riverboats have been found, although they were extremely common in the pre-industrial age before the railways. Added to this should be the fact that the riverboat probably sunk with its cargo, which is even more unusual. Sofar one pot has been excavated.
The wreck lies close to the riverbank, partially covered by a gravel and might be intact. Similar wrecks were found at Dunaföldvar (14th c.) and Rackeve (not-dated) in Hungary during the drought of 2011 winter; however they were not in the same condition as the new find.
A comparative find is the ship from Krefeld from 1972, which measured 14,5 x 3,36 meter.
Plans are underway to continue the documentation and to dig probe-trenches on the buried part.
Call for funding to save the wreck from Dunaföldvar
Marcella Pattyn
