A Maritime Archaeological Project on Gotland

The main direction of the HUMA Project (Heritage Underwater Maritime Archaeology) is research around Gotland's underwater heritage – a heritage that hides many wrecked ships and thereby information about life in older times. The project is focusing on the Danish-Lübeckian fleet which was struck by a horrific storm at Visby roadstead in 1566.

HUMA - Info February 2012

Project leader Göran Ankarlilja

After four seasons in the field, we will make a summary of the project in 2012 and compile what we have done and come up with. Information will eventually be presented here on the website as we will not give out any printed magazine for 2011. Our aim is to publish reports and previously printed magazines from 2008, 2009 and 2010 here for download in PDF format in Swedish and English. We also intend to present articles from our contributors on the project but if you have written anything yourself or if you know of  links to something that we have not addressed here or interesting literature, we are interested. We believe that in this way we can more readily reach people interested in the project, especially those who do not visit Sweden and Gotland so often. If you are visiting the island of Gotland you may see some items on display at the Museum of Gotland in Visby and exhibition of the cannon copy of Gotland Defense Museum in Tingstäde, welcome!

There will be no field investigations and excavations in 2012 as there is no room for this type of work, and the subsequent conservation needed in our current budget. We will instead try to arrange a period where we are looking for new wreck sites for future surveys.

We are pleased and grateful to our main sponsor, Nord Stream who are with us again this year and we wish to congratulate to now pumping gas into an energy-dependent Europe.

Marine Archeological survey area in summer 2011.
Outside Almedalen in Visby. Photo: Gunnar Britse