1984: Sailing into the past – first international seminar on Replicas of Ancient and Medieval Vessels

In April 1984 the city of Roskilde in Denmark hosted the first international research seminar on the problems of constructing and testing replicas of ancient and medieval watercraft. Invitations had been sent out jointly by the twin-institutions, the Viking Ship Museum and the Institute of Maritime Archaeology of the Danish National Museum, to archaeologist, ethnographers, naval architects and others involved in recent replica projects of this kind in Scandinavia as well as in Great Britain and Germany. 

A total of 40 participants met in Roskilde for the seminar, which combined lectures, discussions and presentations of various experimental activities. A trip in dense fog across the fjord under square sail and oars was in itself an adequate introduction to the section on propulsion, while other excursions took us to the Historical-Archaeological Expermental Centre, lejre, to the Danish Maritime Institute, Hjortekjær, and to the Boatyard of the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde to watch the craftsmen and –women working on the ‘Roar’ Project. 

The proceedings of the seminar were published in 1986 in the monograph ’Sailing into the Past’, edited by Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and Max Vinner