3 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

1,300-year-old shipwreck found in southwest France

Archeologists in France have discovered the wreck of a ship that navigated the Garonne river in southwestern France in the 7th-8th century.

The French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) revealed the 12-meter (40-foot) boat to the public Wednesday in Villenave-d’Ornon on the banks of the Garonne in southwest France.

The wooden ship was discovered buried beneath the Estey de Lugan, a silted-over creek just outside of Bordeaux. The biological parts of the ship, including some rope fittings, have been preserved for 1,300 years by the thick, water-logged clay.

There is almost no surviving written history chronicling navigation methods from the period, so the survival of this shipwreck is a unique testimonial to naval design in early medieval France.

The wreck is about 40 feet long, out of an estimated original length of about 50 feet when it was intact. The keel and dimensions indicate it was a cargo ship capable of both river and coastal navigation. It has a flat floor that would have allowed it to carry bulk goods. Both oak and softwood were used to construct it.

The foreground of the boat. Photo: Patrick Ernaux, Inrap
The foreground of the boat. Photo: Patrick Ernaux, Inrap

However, the wreck’s beams of oak, chestnut, and pine are delicate enough that air could destroy it. That’s why watering every 30 minutes is necessary to limit the degradation of the wood.

The boat is being taken apart to uncover its true nature and to learn about shipbuilding in the Middle Ages. Piece by piece will be dismantled and numbered. This dismantling will allow for a detailed analysis of the boat’s construction, an important operation to identify the naval architectural tradition to which it is attached.

The wreck’s clearance will provide archaeologists with an unprecedented opportunity to investigate how it was built and how it traversed the rivers. The crew will also be able to do research on the waterways themselves.

Other artifacts were found within the wreckage.

General view of the middle part of the boat. Photo: Patrick Ernaux, Inrap
General view of the middle part of the boat. Photo: Patrick Ernaux, Inrap

Laurent Grimbert, Inrap archaeologist said: “Inside the boat, between the floorboards, between the ribs and the hull, we found some ceramic elements, which correspond to the 7th-8th century, so that s not too bad,” said Laurent Grimbert, Inrap archaeologist.

“Pieces of leather that may have belonged to someone who worked with leather on board the boat and who threw away a scrap, a fragment of a wooden spoon that may have belonged to someone who lived in the boat or who had lunch there,” he added.

Cover Photo: General view of the boat. Photo: Patrick Ernaux, Inrap

INRAP

Related Articles

First example of Roman crucifixion in UK discovered in Cambridgeshire village

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

In Cambridgeshire village, the earliest evidence of a Roman crucifixion has been discovered. Archaeologists investigating a previously unknown Roman roadside...

The discovery of a 380-million-year-old heart sheds new light on our bodies’ evolution

16 September 2022

16 September 2022

Researchers from Curtin University have discovered the world’s oldest heart in a ‘beautifully preserved’ ancient jawed fish fossil 380 million...

Archaeologists Discovered Medieval Silver Communion Set and 70 Silver Coins in Hungary

16 June 2024

16 June 2024

A 14th-century silver communion set (chalice and wafer holder) and a treasure trove of 70 silver coins were discovered in...

A New Hypothesis Tries to Explain What Triggers People’s Big Brains

14 March 2021

14 March 2021

The big brain is the decisive feature of our species. Not only are they the most complex organs in the...

Parts of the City of the old city of Ghadames called the pearl of the desert collapsed due to rainfall

28 January 2022

28 January 2022

Some parts of the Old City of Ghadames, located in an oasis about 600km southwest of Tripoli near Libya’s border...

Mystery of Knaresborough Roman hoard revealed by Newcastle experts

13 January 2024

13 January 2024

Archaeologists at Newcastle University have investigated one of the most unusual late-Roman metalware ever discovered in the British Isles. Although...

A princely tomb discovered in the infrastructure project of the A7 Ploieşti-Buzău highway in Romania

20 December 2022

20 December 2022

An impressive archaeological discovery took place on the Ploiești-Buzău section of the Moldova Highway. The excavations uncovered a princely tomb,...

A Polish diplomat in Turkey has unravels the enigma of a long-lost ancient city

31 January 2022

31 January 2022

Robert D. Rokicki, a diplomat in the Polish embassy in Ankara used a unique method of “histracking” to find the...

Japan’s possibly oldest stone molds for bronze casting discovered at Yoshinogari ruins

4 December 2023

4 December 2023

At the Yoshinogari Ruins in the western prefecture of Saga, relics including stone casting molds for bronze artifacts have been...

First Human Traces Buried in an Ancient Gold Mine in Eastern Sahara

2 May 2021

2 May 2021

Some of the earliest signs of human life dating back 1.8 million years have been discovered in an old gold...

The camel carvings in Saudi Arabia are 8000 years old!

15 September 2021

15 September 2021

Life-size animal reliefs found in Saudi Arabia were carved almost 8,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period, when the desert...

New Archaeological Discoveries in Abu Dhabi shed light on Umm an-Nar Bronze Age culture (2700-2000 BCE)

1 February 2024

1 February 2024

New findings demonstrate the resilience and inventiveness of local Bronze Age societies (Umm an-Nar Bronze Age culture), as well as...

An ancient bronze hand may be the oldest and longest example of Vasconic script

20 February 2024

20 February 2024

Researchers have discovered rare evidence of an enigmatic ancient language on a 2,000-year-old bronze hand. The inscription on the hand...

Fossil found at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau reveals an owl active during the day 6 million years ago

29 March 2022

29 March 2022

The incredibly well-preserved fossil skeleton of an extinct owl that lived was discovered on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau,...

A 2,000-Year-Old Shoe Discovered in a German Bog

22 June 2021

22 June 2021

Archaeologists discovered a leather shoe that had been lost in a bog for 2,000 years and believe it may have...