A team of marine archaeologists from Iceland, Flinders University in faraway Australia, and the German Maritime Museum is exploring the historic maritime landscape of Búðir—a once-thriving trading port nestled on Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula. The project is exploring maritime activity from the Hanseatic period to the Danish Trade Monopoly era, aiming to uncover physical evidence of Iceland’s early connections to European trade routes.
Researchers have zeroed in on the Búðir harbour and the nearby outpost of Frambuðir, long believed—through oral histories and archival documents—to have played a vital role in fishing and commercial exchanges: “This part of the Snæfellsnes coastline was a hub of seafaring activity and trade for centuries,” according to Dr. Kevin Martin, lead of the project.
Wood Central understands that the key features of the investigation involve the study of ship timbers discovered in 1998, when an electric cable was installed across Búðarós. These remains—thought to be from a large wooden vessel—were recovered from the riverbed and stored at the National Museum of Iceland. As part of the survey, the team has recorded and sampled the timbers for dendrochronological dating, determining the ship’s origin and construction period.
“Icelandic annals record at least ten ships wrecking at Búðir between 1600 and 1800,” Martin said. “We also know, for example, that at the end of the 16th century, a merchant from Bremen lost his ship here,” added Dr. Philipp Grassel from the German Maritime Museum. To build a comprehensive picture of the region’s maritime legacy, the project employs a multidisciplinary toolkit that includes drone photogrammetry, underwater investigations, and timber analysis. Funded by Fornminjasjóður and the German Maritime Museum, the initiative also enjoys local support from landowners such as Sigurður Vigfusson of Bjarnarfoss.
Wood Central understands that this is not the first time Martin and Grassel have worked together. In recent years, they’ve conducted excavations and remote sensing surveys at other historic trading hubs, including Arnarstapi and Grundarfjörður: “Combined with the findings from the Búðir project, we are gradually piecing together a clearer understanding of past maritime activities and Iceland’s connections to wider European trading networks during the Early Modern Period,” Martin said. And as the team continues its efforts along the windswept coasts of western Iceland, the historic footprints of international trade, shipwrecks, and commerce—long buried beneath centuries of sediment and stories—are steadily coming into view.
- To learn more about the project, click here to read the special feature on the German Maritime Museum website.
