1,300-Year-Old Viking Ship Fragment Discovered Beneath City Street

On March 23, researchers in the Netherlands stumbled across an ancient relic that experts have provisionally identified as part of a Viking ship.

The wooden beam—measuring upwards of ten feet in length—was discovered by construction workers tasked with refitting a sewage system in Wijk bij Duurstede in the Netherlands. According to Jam Press, the workers soon realized that something was buried beneath the sidewalk.

While the workers were ready to dismiss the timber as a regular piece of building material, amateur archeologist Danny van Basten decided it would be a good idea to get the experts involved. When they arrived, they agreed with Van Basten: the wood came from an ancient Viking longship.

Experts from Stichting Beheer Vikingschip and Museum Dorestad concluded that the markings on the piece of timber were consistent with those that arose during Viking construction methods, and the ageing on the wood seemed to support their theory.

The experts proposed two leading theories. Either the timber was originally part of a "cog ship" used by later traders in the Medieval period (around 1,300 AD), or it had splintered from the frame of a much older ship that could date back to 700 AD.

Due to its discovery in the Netherlands, it was concluded that the ship could have been en route to (or from) Dorestad: the ancient city where much of the trade between Scandinavia and northern France took place during this period.

The Carolingian period (700-800 AD) saw a huge increase in formalized trade routes throughout Western Europe, with many routes created by Frankish King Charlemagne to assert his dominance throughout the region.

Via the New York Post, the beam "will need to be cleaned and its rings analyzed so [experts] can gauge its exact age." This process could reportedly take several months with all the necessary documentation.