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SITUNE DEI 2009

Experimental Viking voyages


on Eastern European rivers
19832006

Rune Edberg

Abstract. Several experimental boat voyages Soviet Union on its way to the Black Sea.
on rivers in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR The crew was however forced to turn back
have taken place during the last decades. All at the easternmost Polish border. At the time
have confirmed that travelling on rivers, against of renewed efforts with Krampmacken in
stong current or in shallow waters, is a chal- 1985, the expedition picked up where it had
lenging and sometimes quite impossible task. been forced to leave off, but instead fol-
The notion that Scandinavians brought their lowed the river Vistula (Wisla) upstream as
own vessels to and across Russia, as sometimes far as possible. From there, the crew, with
suggested by imaginative scholars, is neither the help of a cart, pulled the boat across the
supported by archeological and historical re- Carpathian Mountains, and continued on to
search, nor by these experiments. Miklagrd (Constantinople / Istanbul) via
the rivers Ondava, Bodrog, Tisza and

T he 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union


lead to a considerable loosening of pre-
viously strict travel restrictions for foreign
Danube (through Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Bulgaria
and Turkey). Krampmacken was 8 meters
visitors. This meant that it became possible long (fig. 2). The design was based on a
to study the conditions applicable to the Gotlandic boat find. Erik Nyln headed the
Viking Age voyages on the eastern water- project, and I participated on one leg of the
ways first hand. Since then, a number of journey.
voyages have been undertaken (fig. 1). In The Norwegian Havrn expedition be-
the present article, I will briefly present came pioneers in the newly ex-Soviet states.
them, and try to establish what they have ac- In 1992, it traveled down parts of the rivers
complished and what they have added to Daugava (in Latvia) and Dnepr (in the
previous research. Ukraine). Havrn was a 16 meters long
As early as 1983, a Swedish expedition ship, a 2/3-scale replica of the Gokstad ship
traveling in the boat Krampmacken, at- (fig. 3). A group whose driving force was
tempted to obtain permission to cross the Thor Engy owned the ship.

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From the Varangians to the Greeks undertaken with the two ships, in 1994 and
The next attempt was made by the Swedish 19962000, mainly took place on open wa-
Aifur expeditions in 1994, 1996 and 2001, ter, and to some degree on West European
respectively. The route went through the rivers affected by the tide. The experiences
rivers Neva, Volkhov, Lovat, Usvyatya and gained from those trips fall outside the
Kasplya in Russia, the Dnepr in Russia and scope of this paper, but in the year 2000, the
the Ukraine and the Daugava in Belarus and Heimlsa Rus traveled up the Don and con-
Latvia. The goal of the expedition was to tinued to Volgograd via the VolgaDon
travel the Road from the Varangians to the canal, and from there on to Astrakhan on the
Greeks as it is outlined in the Russian Pri- Volga (fig. 6). These expeditions were lead
mary Chronicle. by the owner of the boats, Fredrik Koivusa-
The Aifur was 9.5 meters long, based on lo.
a combination of several Viking Age origi- My latest example is a Polish expedi-
nals (fig. 4). She was collectively owned by tion, which traveled on the rivers Vistula,
an organization consisting of ten members Bug and Dnepr (in Poland and the Ukraine)
with Jan Johansson as chairman. I was re- onboard the boat Welet in 2006. The Welet
sponsible for documenting it all. was a 12 meters long replica of a Viking
The 1996 Aifur voyage ended at the Age boat find from Danzig-Ohra (Gdansk-
mouth of the river Dnepr (in the Ukraine), Orunia) (fig. 7). Henryk Wolski headed the
but the Himinglva expedition, which took expedition.
place in 2004, acted as a geographical con- We may see more expeditions of this
tinuation of the Aifur voyages. Himinglva kind, but then again, maybe not. One of the
started out at the mouth of the Dnepr with factors that deter potential arrangers of such
the Caspian Sea as its goal. The idea was to voyages is the very thick red tape and the
recreate a trip that is known from Swedish corruption that rages within the old Soviet
rune stones and Icelandic sources, often re- areas. These problems only seem to com-
ferred to as The Voyage of Ingvar (Ingvar pound with each year. It was because of
the Far-traveled). After that, the expedition problems like that, that the 2004 Himingl-
traveled across the Caucasus, partially on va expedition had large parts of its travel
rivers and partially by land with the help of plans spoiled by bullheaded Russian au-
oxen (in Georgia and Azerbadzhyan). The thorities at the border crossings. In 2006
9.75 meters long Himinglva was modeled Henryk Wolski had to dole out a large sum
the largest of the smaller boats found in con- of pledge money in order to get the Welet
junction with the Gokstad ship find (fig. 5). across the Ukrainian border. The worst case
Hkan Altrock owned the boat and also scenario is that the research window that
headed the expedition. was opened to foreign researchers in 1991
has been slammed shut for now.
The Don and the Volga
The Finnish boats Rus and Heimlsa Rus Varying quality
were both 12-meter long replicas of a find Whatever the future holds, there have now
made in the inner parts of the Gulf of Fin- been enough successful attempts at these
land, the so-called Lapuri boat. The voyages types of journeys that we can flesh out a few

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E X P E R I M E N TA L VIKING V O YA G E S

Aifur
(2001)

Havrn
(1992)
Aifur (19941996)
Krampmacken
(19831985)
Heimlsa Rus
(2000)
Welet
(2006)

Himinglva
(2004)

Fig. 1. Schematic map of the various expeditions discussed in the paper, drawn by the author.

general implications. The basis of such con- of my knowledge, there is no documenta-


clusions is, of course, the available docu- tion in the true meaning of the word regard-
mentation, which varies in quality. This ing the Havrns voyages. There are, how-
causes a problem for the interpretation in it- ever, some unpublished accounts that cover
self. parts of the journey (Engy 1992; Altrock
The most well documented of these voy- 1993). To my knowledge, there is, as of yet,
ages were the Krampmacken expedition no documentation regarding the Welets
(Nyln 1983, 1987a, 1987b: also Oreheim voyage in 2006, other than a TV documen-
1989; Sjstrand 1988) the Aifur expedition tary and on the Internet (http:// welet.
(Edberg 1998, 2002), and the Himinglva best.net/pl).
expedition (Altrock 2005). The Rus expedi- There were also large differences in
tion is documented in a book (Koivusalo preparations, starting points, ambitions and
1996) while documentation of the Heimlsa organization between the expeditions. This,
Rus voyages only appears to be available on too, must be observed when evaluating the
line (www.qnet.fi/rus-project/). To the best

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Fig. 2. Krampmacken under sail on the Vistula River in 1983. Photo courtesy of Erik Nyln.

Fig. 3. Havrn was forced to interrupt the jour- Fig. 4. Aifur in shallow water on the Lower Lovat
ney up the Daugava River in 1992. Photo cour- in 1996. Photo courtesy of the The Aifur associ-
tesy of Hkan Altrock. ation.

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E X P E R I M E N TA L VIKING V O YA G E S

Fig. 5. Himinglva with draft oxen in a mountain Fig. 6. Heimlsa Rus under sail on the River
pass in the Caucasus, 2004. Photo courtesy of Don in 2000. Photo courtesy of Fredrik Koivu-
Hkan Altrock. salo.

Fig. 7. Welet under sail


on the River Bug in 2006.
Photo courtesy of Henryk
Wolski.

outcomes. The following are examples of The carefully selected crew of Kramp-
this. macken put in a lot of practice before it set
off. The crew sailed around Gotland and
Amphibian vessels? back and forth to the mainland. They did
The scholars own preexisting knowledge not, however, practice traveling on any riv-
always plays a role in what types of ques- er. When it came to those points during the
tions he will pose. 1983 and 1985 journeys, when the boat had
For example, Erik Nyln had researched to be rowed or towed up-stream on the Vis-
the ships depicted on the Gotlandic picture tula and Bug rivers, the crew was unable to
stones, and as a result, he come up with the travel any more than ten kilometers per day,
theory that relatively small vessels could despite much toil. It became obvious that
have traveled across the Baltic ocean and on this vessel was not suited for this purpose.
rivers, as well as being pulled across land When, after some time, farther progression
between the rivers. In other words, they on the rivers became entirely impossible,
would have been used much in the way of Erik Nyln had the crew, partially aided by
an amphibian vessel. horse, pull the boat on wheels across the

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Carpathians and the Dukla pass (500 meters rolling ships and boats long distances on
above sea level). logs, also came across as unrealistic.
The best part of the journey with Kramp-
macken was that Erik Nyln never gave in Unfortunate consequences
to temptation by allowing engines or other To a large extent, the Aifur expeditions of
anachronisms. The expedition did, howev- 1994, 1996 and 2001 followed in the foot-
er, allow the use of a car to haul provisions steps of the Krampmacken expeditions.
and extra crew to trade off with, which was However, poor practical leadership had
also the case with Havrn, Aifur and some unfortunate consequences. The voy-
Himinglva. ages research program was abandoned at a
couple of occations and tractor and truck
Heroic toil transports robbed the expedition of some
Havrns 1992 trip on the Daugava begun important experiences.
once the lower parts of the river had been The 2004 Himinglva expedition ran in-
bypassed and the boat launched in to similar problems, despite a clearly de-
Aizkraukle, upstream of three hydroelectric fined and determined leadership. As an ex-
power plants built in the 1900s, whence the ample, the expedition crossed the eastern
crew and ship was brought by truck. In open part of the Black Sea by car ferry. The lack
water on the Baltic, the boat had proved to of time also caused the journeys through
be a good sailing vessel, but on the rivers Georgia and Azerbaydzhyan to be under-
the opportunities to sail were few and far taken in an ahistorical fashion.
between, and the crew was reduced to row- The 2006 Welet expedition partially
ing or towing the ship from shore. This traveled along the route that Erik Nyln
worked reasonably well up until Jekabpils, originally had planned for Krampmacken,
where a 300 meters long section of 8-knot i.e. VistulaBug and across the border to the
rapids was transversed only after three days Ukraine. Although the commander in
of heroic toil. After this, the crew was charge of the Welet expressed thoughts
forced to transport the ship by truck for along the line of experimental archaeology,
some distance. The river is unregulated be- one is left with the impression that he had
yond Jekabpils, and the journey could con- expected to travel rather quickly, and there-
tinue until Kraslava where, once again, a fore did not hesitate to apply anachronistic
truck had to be brought in, this time across methods to achieve his goal. The Welet
the water shed all the way to Mogilyev on passed through locks (among other places at
the Dnepr. From that point on, the Havrn the 22 meter high Wloclawek dam in Vistu-
traveled towards the Black Sea mostly by la the same spot that the crew of Kramp-
engine. macken managed to pass by way of pulling
The most obvious of the Havrn legacies the boat overland), and also resorted to
came to be the shattering of old stereotypes overland transport whenever it seemed suit-
relating to the idea that eastward Viking able. An onboard motor was used intermit-
voyages with this type of vessel had been tently. Regardless of this, there is still much
practical. In light of the experience of the to be learned from this expedition. The
expedition, the popular image of crews truck transport across the border was the re-

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sult of the Bugs low water level. The con- newer travelers logs. The authors rash
siderably smaller boat Krampmacken also conclusion, i.e. that basically all rivers
had problems with sandbars and currents in would have been easily passable during the
this same spot. After the boarder crossing, Viking Age, was the foundation upon which
the Welet was launched in Dniestr, where the planning of the Krampmacken expedi-
downstream rowing and sailing worked tion rested.
well for quite a distance, up until the power
plant by Novodniestrovsk. Beyond that Neglected information
point, the crew was forced to resort to a very In 19931994, when the Aifur organization
long overland transport across the Ukraine, prepared for the expedition, it was quite dif-
past the politically turbulent Moldavia, all ficult to obtain data for planning at a rea-
the way to the mouth of the Dniester. sonable cost. Our main sources of informa-
tion were the US Air Forces topographical
Maps and Preparations maps in the scale of 1:500 000, which were
As long as the Iron Curtain remained in available in Sweden at that time. It was not
place, studying maps was the most common until the 1996 voyage that we were able to
and often the only way for Western obtain reliable regional Russian maps
scholars to estimate which waterways (oblast-) in scales of 1:500 000 and
would have been viable options back in the 1:200 000. By the time the 2001 voyage
Viking Age. It was easy to overestimate the took place, the situation had improved even
possibilities that way, every blue line on the farther. For example, we were able to pur-
map appeared to be a possible route. Older chase excellent, previously classified, Be-
research also pointed to a connection be- larus maps in the scales of 1:100 000 and
tween archaeological finds and the rivers, 1:50 000 in a bookstore in Riga. These even
and many scholars felt this meant that they showed the rapids of the Daugava River,
had enough proof, albeit indirect, of jour- and the average speed of the rivers current
neys by boat. was marked at regular intervals. In Latvia, I
Before the Krampmacken expedition, also bought a handbook of the Soviet wa-
Erik Nyln had one of his students perform terways, printed in the 1970s.
a study (Elmr 1982). The account of po- However, some of the same areas that
tential river routes between the Baltic and were neglected during the planning stages
Miklagrd makes for a very interesting doc- of the Krampmacken expedition were also
ument of that era in itself. Elmrs source overlooked during the planning for the Ai-
material consists entirely of relatively fur expedition. The library searches were
small-scale maps. It shows data regarding not as thorough as they could have been,
the length of each river, and there is also and after a short reconnaissance trip along
some information about height above sea the Lovat in 1995 I underestimated the po-
level, collected from the maps. There is no tential problems that could be encountered
material from hydrological and similar on this leg of the journey. The consequence
sources, and there is no information about was that the following year, as the expedi-
the conditions of the rivers, that may have tion reached the impassable middle part of
been gleaned in historical sources and/or the river, the crew was mentally unpre-

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pared, become negatively surprised, and ac- manufactured using only period tools and
cepted an offer of tractor transport. methods. The opposing camp is of the opin-
ion that it works just fine to attempt a jour-
Prejudices and lack of knowledge ney, as long as the vessel is a reasonably
Today, as I look back on things, I also get a close facsimile of the original boat, espe-
feeling that many of us Swedes who took cially considering the fact that it never will
part in the Krampmacken and Aifur expedi- be possible to recreate a 100% accurate re-
tions subconsciously viewed Eastern Eu- construction of a prehistoric boat. All of the
rope, and the Soviet Union in particular, as boats presented in this article more or less
terra incognita, unknown land. The 1000 belong in the latter camp.
years between now and the Viking Age was It becomes even more obvious that ex-
a black hole. This may partially have been perimental boat archaeology cannot be
caused by the essentially different political compared to scientific experimentation
systems and by the language barrier. There when you consider that the crew must con-
were also not many of us who had visited sist of modern people, inevitably steeped in
the Eastern Block as tourists. Oftentimes we a modern mould. They are volunteers, who
were prejudicial and had a lack of knowl- participate at their own expense and under
edge. In regards to the Soviet Union and the their own terms. One can say that the par-
ex-Soviet Union, our non-existent or rudi- ticipants join up in order to have their pre-
mentary knowledge of the Russian lan- existing conceptions fulfilled, much in the
guage leading to actually existing informa- same manner as the researcher poses his
tion not being utilized at the planning question according to his own preexisting
stages. conceptions. The modern mindset is thus re-
The development of the Internet shortly vealed on all levels.
thereafter lead to a revolution regarding
available information, so that the Himingl- Active Material Culture
va expedition did not have any problem ob- People are, however, influenced by their
taining good, large scale maps of their pro- environment. It is the active role of the ma-
posed route in 2004. Their reconnaissance terial culture: the character of the voyage
and other preparation seem to have been changes if you have a motor onboard, since
much more adequate (although this expedi- it demands to be used. Mobile phones, GPS,
tion ran into other obstacles like the ones computers and satellite connection are oth-
mentioned before, and to which we will re- er flagrant examples of how the modern era
turn later in the article). sneaks into the experimental journeys. The
Krampmacken expedition took place in the
Copies and mentality 1980s, before the inception of mobile
One commonly voiced viewpoint is that on- phones and GPS, which gave it a slightly
ly ships and boats that are as realistic a copy different character than the later expedi-
of the original as possible will do if one ex- tions. In the relatively short time span cov-
pects to be able to come to any reliable con- ered by this paper, about two decades, the
clusions of such experiments. According to improved telecommunications along with
such viewpoints, the boats should also be

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other innovations have shrunk the psycho- along the coast of the pro-Russian splinter
logical distance considerably. republic of Abkhasia in 2004, and the Welet
It has also become apparent that the was unable to travel across the stretch of the
rivers themselves have changed, too, both Dniestr that borders the pro-Russian splin-
by natural processes, and, more often than ter republic Transnistria in Moldavia.
not, by human intervention. Ture Arne pho-
tographed the Aifur rapids on the Dnepr in Bureaucracy and hospitality
1913, but when the Aifur passed that same Border crossings have sometimes been bu-
spot, a 100-meter deep dam covered it. Be- reaucratic nightmares, and problems with
yond that, each power station affects the riv- visas have forced crewmembers to have to
er both up stream and down. Depending on stay behind or cut short their participation
the terrain, the effect can sometimes be no- early. As a rule, the expeditions have had
ticeable for hundreds of kilometers. Even very small budgets to work with, or have
before these hydroelectric dams became a been self financed, so that payment of the
decisive factor, extensive rock clearing and bribes demanded to police and other offi-
dredging work was commonly performed to cials have barely been feasible.
facilitate navigation and log driving. The Occasionally, a problem of a different
untrained eye does not catch such measures. kind cropped up, especially for the Aifur ex-
pedition in Latvia in 2001 and for the
Political problems Himinglva expedition in Georgia in 2004.
Armed with the practical experiences of the This was just how to handle a much too hos-
1983 journey on the Vistula and Bug rivers, pitable local population it is not easy to
Erik Nyln expressed the opinion that the turn down invites to village feasts, and one
rivers seem not to have changed much in the cannot fail to attend parties put on by the
past 1000 years (Nyln 1983:104). The host countrys various organizations and au-
fact that hydroelectric power stations had thorities, who may have done everything in
been built did not escape him. However, any their power to facilitate the realization of
good reference book will also confirm that the expedition. The result is that it some-
in the case of the Vistula River, for example, times becomes very difficult to find the time
extensive straightening of the rivers course to complete the mission itself.
as well as clearing of both the shoreline and
river bed have taken place, especially after Achievements and conclusions
WW II. The intention was to make the river Despite the weaknesses and shortcomings
Eastern Europes main transport artery. previously discussed, one must not under
Nyln was wrong. any circumstances throw out the baby with
Another problem for the interpretation is the bath water and view what actually was
the political situation. All the experimental achieved, oftentimes entailing great person-
projects carried out to date have been al sacrifices and selfless effort, as a failure.
strongly affected by political circum- (Of course, from a scientific standpoint,
stances, even after the fall of the Soviet failures can be just as important as success-
Union. As an example, the Himinglva ex- es.) The fact of the matter is that by now,
pedition was denied permission to travel many attempts have been done on many

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Eastern European rivers, big and small, ta, which provides a striking example of the
with boats and ships of a Scandinavian condition of the water table, is easily acces-
Viking Age design. The documentation and sible over the Internet.
project evaluations that have been per- In other words, there will be times when
formed to date, especially those from the travel on a river is not possible, and river
Krampmacken, Aifur and Himinglva ex- travel, especially against the current, has its
peditions, have provided an empirical foun- own peculiarities and difficulties. Keeled
dation for the discussion relating to pre-his- ships and boats have proven to be relatively
toric travel and communication. The single heavy to handle. It is also never easy to
most important point to be made regarding move ships and boats long distances across
these expeditions is that these were theoret- land. That is why river traveling, as a gen-
ical ideas that were put into practice, which eral rule, is a time consuming endeavor,
is always a good starting point in scientific even when viable.
matters. Some conclusions may seem em-
barrassingly simple, but when compared to Travelers followed the river
certain older literature, it becomes apparent A clear example is the often cited passage
that there were many misconceptions about from the Russian Primary Chronicle regard-
the possibilities and limitations of riverine ing The road from the Varangians to the
travel. Greek that follows along the River Lovat.
Over time, the Aifur expedition became in-
Varying conditions on the rivers timately familiar with the dramatic season-
One such circumstance that is often disre- al changes in the rivers water table, its rel-
garded in the discussion is the fact that there atively steep slope, and the hundreds of
are great differences between each and rocky rapids. The Lovat runs for approxi-
every river. Some are wide and deep while mately 540 kilometers, and experiments
some are narrow and shallow, and some- showed that boat travel was not a viable op-
times vice versa. The water table also dif- tion on its middle and upper parts. Compar-
fers from year to year and from season to isons to written sources indicated that this
season, and often radically. A lot of water also had been the case in historic times, and
(spring thaw) implies swifter currents, the archaeology of the river paints much the
whereas a low water table (summer same picture. This is not to say that the
drought) means a continuous risk of run- chronicle is lying, but rather, that it should
ning aground. Ten years ago, when I was be interpreted as an indication of travelers
trying to evaluate the 19941996 Aifur ex- following the river and took advantage of
pedition, and tried to find detailed informa- the sailable portions. The rest of the journey
tion about the water table of the rivers in had to be completed on foot, on horseback
northwestern Russia, this information was or on sleigh.
entirely inaccessible. Through a Swedish The Krampmacken expedition utilized
hydro expert who had been on assignment draft horses on the leg of the journey that
in Novgorod, I was eventually able to ac- saw them intersect southern Poland. In my
cess and publish information for the opinion, this must be viewed as an ad hoc
Volkhov River. In this day and age, such da- solution, and to have oxen pull the boat

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across some mountains in the Caucasus Scandinavian travellers most likely used
Mountains (1150 meters above sea level), craft of this type.
as was done on the Himinglva expedition, On the other hand, crossing the Baltic,
was creative. But it should be viewed more carrying armed men, provisions and cargo,
as an achievement in sports, rather than as a demanded seaworthy ships, quite unsuit-
confirmation of facts given in Saga of Ing- able for river traffic. Viking Age centres in
var the Far-traveled. Rus, such as Staraya Ladoga and Ryrikovo
Gorodishche were not only political strong-
Research breakthrough holds and emporia but also the nodes where
In conclusion, the experimental voyages the means of sea, river and land transport
have returned good results, which have were changed (cf. Sindbk 2001). There,
caused a revision of many opinions regard- seagoing ships could be left among coun-
ing Viking Age river travel. Another impor- trymen and trading parters for the winter, if
tant effect is that much of the experiences necessary (cf. Sorokin 2006).
from these journeys have inspired various The suggestion that rowing-boats, like
archaeological, historical and ethnological those often found in Swedish boat burials,
studies, which have been carried out in or- regularly were used to cross the Baltic can
der to place these experiments in their cor- hardly be sustained. The Vikings had the
rect context and in order to judge their rele- know-how to make sailing vessels, big
vance and validity. A good example of this enough to carry men and cargo for a safe
is Sren Sindbaeks study, where he studied passage even under rough weather condi-
Staraya Ladoga, Timerovo, Gnezdovo and tions. Such ships are, of course, well known
other Russian locations where finds of a by archaeologists (cf. Bill 1991).
Scandinavian nature have been made, from
the viewpoint of these places being used for The Volga Routes
cargo storage and reloading at the turning To date, the routes stretching from Ladoga
point between summer and winter transport towards Volga have not received the same
(Sindbaek 2001). The large amount of practical-experimental attention as The
sleigh parts that have been unearthed in Road from the Varangians to the Greeks
Novgorod support this theory. I view this as and Ingvars route to the Caspian Sea. The
a confirmation of the fact that a research Volga Road, most likely by way of Lakes
breakthrough has taken place in the issues Onega and Beloozero, is generally assumed
surrounding these topics. to have played a role in the connections be-
There is a great need for a widening and tween Scandinavia, the Volga Bulgars and
deepening of such studies. All kinds of the Caliphate in the 9th and 10th centuries.
comparative material relating to just how The rich hunting grounds, which were to
the traffic was set up and how it flowed in become the foundation upon which the
these areas in pre-history is specifically prosperity of the medieval Novgorod Re-
valuable. Locally made, light, flat-bot- public rested, lay directly north of this
tomed boats have been standard on the route. The construction of the gigantic
Eastern rivers in historical times and things canals and power plants in the last century
were surely not different in prehistory. has transformed the waterways completely

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in this area. It is, however, not impossible Note. A Swedish version of this paper was
that previously unexplored sources, both in published in Marinarkeologisk tidskrift,
terms of the landscape and within the No. 1, 2008.
archival material, could shed more light on
many questions regarding long distance
travel in this vast area.

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frst den vikingatida skeppsbyggaren och ---
sjfararen. Vasa. Web sites:
(Heimlsa Rus) www.qnet.fi/rus-project
(Welet) http://welet.best.net/pl

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