By Kirsten Ripper & Euronews with BGfU
Off Lindau in Lake Constance, underwater archaeologists have discovered wooden parts of a shipwreck that are apparently much older than first assumed.
"The tip came from a recreational diver who knows the area very well. He had already suspected that it might be a wreck," says archaeological research diver Prof. Dr Tobias Pflederer when asked by Euronews. Pflederer is a cardiologist in Kaufbeuren and a professor at the University of Erlangen, and also honorary president of the Bavarian Society for Underwater Archaeology (BGfU).
"What was particularly exciting was that we were really able to identify the wooden remains as a wreck. That was not at all clear from the outset. They could just as well have been other pieces of timber. But once several frames and fragments of the hull were protruding from the lake bed, the interpretation quickly became clear," explains Pflederer.
A frame is a load-bearing structural element of a boat, a ship or an aircraft. Connected frames form the hull of a ship, like ribs. The BGfU underwater archaeologists had previously discovered several, significantly heavier dugout canoes both in Lake Constance and in Lake Chiemsee, some of which are on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
