User:Lsteid/Knarr

Construction
Oak, which was widely available in southern Scandinavia, was extraordinarily strong and flexible and was most commonly used to construct the knarr. Its oak frame was constructed much deeper, which when paired with a wider body, created an incredibly stable merchant ship. This adaptation allowed it to sail smoothly as well as helped it disband the harshest of ocean waves. Furthermore, the Vikings riveted overlapping planks to the hull, creating the clinker-hull which better suited it for rough waters. Thus, it was around 16 meters long (53 feet) and could carry up to 30 tons (60,000 lbs) of cargo. The final change was the implementation of the sail into Viking ship making. Due to adding sails to the knarr, it became an incredibly low maintenance ship, only needing a crew of six to manage.

Origins
The art of warfare, trade, and exploration during the Viking Age was a product of hundreds of years of

Excavation - Skuldelev 1
In Denmark in 1962, a blockade of Viking ships was discovered at the bottom of a river.7 With a total of five sunken ships, this excavation became the first discovery of a Knarr, and earned it the name Skuldelev 1. Excavation determined these boats were sunk purposely to block the passageway from intruders, around the 11th century. Along with the knarr there were two warships, a trading boat, and a ferryboat.

Significance
Within the few written Viking records, the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red tell an in-depth story of the Viking journey and discovery of Vinland, nowadays Newfoundland. These adventures were passed down verbally over hundreds of years until they were finally written down by an unnamed author around the 13th century. In 1960, Helge, an explorer and his wife Anne Stine Ingstad, an archaeologist, used an array of tools such as the sagas and maps to discover a Viking settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. This revolutionary discovery solidified that the Vikings had made it to North America, proving the sagas held a degree of truth. Today, this area is still being investigated and there have been even more fantastic discoveries with the use of new fieldwork technology. The knarr played a vital role during the Viking settlement at Vinland because it was one of the only ships that was able to transfer the cargo necessary to start a settlement. Thus, the Knarr would have carried food, tools, livestock and much more to this new world. Which proved once again its importance within the Viking community.

Trade
Outside of the realm of discovery and settlement, the knarr ships also would have taken part in trade routes across the Viking world. From the Baltic to the North Atlantic, Viking trade routes were intricate and commonly travelled. In the Baltic, trade was possible all year, in the warm months by boat and in the winter by foot or sled. Due to the Vikings preferring to trade through rivers and seas, the knarr was a perfect candidate as it was small enough to fit most rivers most waterways. The sagas tell much of Viking travel and trade throughout the North Atlantic which furthers the idea that the knarr was an essential part of Viking culture. Trade not only connected the Vikings to the world around them but also helped their interconnectedness as a culture. Among fur, food, weapons and more, the fish trade played a significant role in the development of North Atlantic trade routes.