15 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

An unexpected shipwreck was unearthed at the Tallinn construction site

During the construction of the office building on Lootsi Street in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital on the Baltic Sea, a shipwreck was found underground, exceeding the size of any wreck previously excavated here.

The surprise didn’t stop there; Construction at Lootsi 8 began with the knowledge of a shipwreck on the property that wouldn’t be affected by planned work, however, an unexpected second wreck was unearthed as well, and it may be one of the best-preserved in the region.

The wreck was found at the mouth of the Härjapea River. The wreck was measured to be 24.5 meters long by 9.5 meters wide, and experts hope to unearth it in as large of pieces as possible.

“We have another 13th-century wreck on our property whose location is known, but the second one came completely unexpectedly,” said EHC Lootsi representative Tarmo Mill.

Ragnar Nurk, an archaeologist in Tallinn City Planning Board’s Department of Heritage Conservation, said the previously known wreck was three to four meters deep, but the newly found wreckage was much closer to the ground, about one and a half meters deep.

 Shipwrecks were found at Lootsi 8 construction site in Tallinn. Photo: Scanpix
Shipwrecks were found at Lootsi 8 construction site in Tallinn. Photo: Scanpix

Although the site is 200 meters (ca. 220 yards) from the water today, for centuries it was a port. In the late 1930s, the area was infilled with ash and household refuse. It’s not clear if the ships sank there are were gradually buried over time by siltification, or if they were deliberately sunk after reaching the end of their natural lives.

Archaeologist Mihkel Tammet, who led the excavations at OÜ Muinasprojekt, thinks that next Thursday the debris will be cleared, the water will be pumped out and all details of the wreck can be seen.

According to Estonian Maritime Museum Priit Lätti, initial dendroanalyses indicated that the recently discovered wreck may date back to the late 13th or early 14th century, an estimate which is being increasingly supported as more details are unearthed, but that further analysis would be necessary to confirm the dating.

According to Tammet, “Definitely one of the best-preserved shipwrecks ever found.”

An unexpected shipwreck was unearthed by construction work at Lootsi 8 in Tallinn's Sadama neighborhood, near the Port of Tallinn.  Photo: Patrik Tamm/ERR
An unexpected shipwreck was unearthed by construction work at Lootsi 8 in Tallinn’s Sadama neighborhood, near the Port of Tallinn. Photo: Patrik Tamm/ERR

Finding the wreckage brought some controversy. Heritage conservationists have suggested that the overall goal might be to get the wreckage underground as much as possible.

“We will do everything we can to get these wreck out of the ground, but what’s sad is that the state’s contribution to preserving our common heritage is nonexistent,” said EHC Lootsi representative Tarmo Mill, stressing that the wreck doesn’t belong to the company and the state should support its excavation.

Small interesting finds were also found from the wreckage. One of the interesting finds is a mallet. It is a tool made of pigskin, used by sailors to tie the ends of a rope.

Postimees

Related Articles

Excavation of the Temple of Athena Began in the Ancient City of Aigai

15 October 2021

15 October 2021

The foundations of the Temple of Athena were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Aigai, located...

A new Archaeological Site has been Discovered in Oman

7 July 2021

7 July 2021

Oman‘s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism recently discovered an ancient site in the town of Al Khobar, Sumail Province, Al...

A marble slab with an inscription from the 2nd century was discovered during excavations in Bulgaria

18 October 2023

18 October 2023 3

Archaeologists discovered a 1,900-year-old marble slab bearing an ancient Greek inscription in the Roman Baths of Hisarya, a small resort...

Well-preserved Ming Dynasty tomb unearthed in China’s Shanxi Province

17 March 2024

17 March 2024

Archaeologists from the Shanxi Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology have unearthed a well-preserved tomb from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)...

2,000-year-old unique luxury Roman villa with “underfloor heating” found in Germany

3 November 2022

3 November 2022

A luxury Roman villa with a thermal bath and underfloor heating has been unearthed in Kempten, Bavaria, one of the...

Researchers identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old

25 May 2023

25 May 2023

A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume...

‘Astonishingly Preserved’ Ancient Roman Well Found in Cambridgeshire was An Engineering Failure

22 August 2024

22 August 2024

In an excavation at the site of future highway improvements in Cambridgeshire, the team from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)...

Megalithic structure found in Kazakhstan was probably a place of worship for miners in the Bronze Age

2 September 2024

2 September 2024

Archaeologists investigating a megalithic monument in the Burabay district of the Akmola region of Kazakhstan have revealed that the monument...

New Research Uncovers Earliest Evidence of Humans in Rainforests, Pushing Timeline Back 150,000 Years

3 March 2025

3 March 2025

The rainforests, as important biomes on earth, were considered uninhabited until recent history. New findings now show that humans lived...

New Museum being Built for the Stolen Goddess Cybele in Western Turkey

12 June 2021

12 June 2021

A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, which was returned to its native home of Turkey’s Afyonkarahisar will...

A Lynx Buried with Four Big Dogs in an Ancient Roman Well in Hungary

17 April 2024

17 April 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of an adult male lynx accompanied by four big dogs in a Roman-era pit in...

Polish archaeologists discover papyruses containing a list of Roman centurions at Berenike

23 May 2024

23 May 2024

Papyruses with lists of Roman centurions stationed in Egypt were found by Polish archaeologists in Berenike. These unique documents were...

Dingoes were regarded as “almost human” in pre-colonial Australia

21 October 2023

21 October 2023

When it comes to Australia’s wild dingoes, the phrase “a dog is a man’s best friend” takes on new meaning....

Army Museum Worker Discovers Early Medieval Sword While Swimming in a Polish River

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

The collection of the Army Museum in Białystok, Poland has been enriched after renovation with a unique relic of great...

Australia’s 1,400-year-old Mysterious Earth Rings: Evidence of Millennia of Human Effort, Not Natural Formation

21 January 2025

21 January 2025

A chain of mysterious earth rings in the Sunbury hills at the fringe of Melbourne, in Australia have been found...