- Our own publications:
- Books
- Conference papers
- Articles
- Books we have contributed to, as author of individual sections
Hjortspringbådens Laug has its own publishing house: Hjortspringlaugets Forlag.
Guild's own publications
- Organisation, laws, board of directors, membership directory, working rules for the groups, external contacts, a large literature reference list with page references and finances
- Design and construction
- Wood, dimensions and sourcing
- Building process
- Tools, which ones and how they are made or otherwise obtained
- Weapons and equipment
- The story of the boat and its time
- Test
- Exhibition
- Modifications
- Maintenance
- Articles
Valdemar Dreyer (1920 - 1995)
Valdemar Dreyer has, together with his wife Ulla, published a book about Nørreskoven on Als in the series Fra Als og Sundeved, Volume 70 in 1992, published by Historisk Samfund for Als og Sundeved. The book includes a review of all the ancient monuments in the forest.
Hvor kom de fra? (Where did they come from?)
Tanker om Hjortspringfundet og Als i keltisk jernalder.
(Thoughts on the Hjortspring find and Als in the Celtic Iron Age.)
Hjortspringlaugets Forlag, 5 juni 1999.
ISBN 87-987386-0-7
The book is 80 pages in A5 format and contains:
- History of the Hjortspring discovery
- A tale of Germania
- What's the reason?
- What?
- The Alsatian landscape
- What is the boat made of?
- Culture gathering. The Celts
- Who came?
- Ancient ships. How many were there?
- From saltwater to freshwater. Iron Age houses
- Iron Age clothing
- Postscript
Birgit Valbjørn ( - 2003)
Knud Vagn Valbjørn
Knud has been the driving force in the organisation of the guild's activities.
Knud has been (co-)author of several articles, articles in our newsletters and books, and he has also published a novel: The Mummy in the Atacama Desert (in Chile).
Sønderjydsk Månedsskrift, nr 3/4, s. 43: 1994.
Artikel i JyskeVeskysten: 1996-01-08, et 3/4 sides indlæg om Lauget.
(Article in JyskeVeskysten: 1996-01-08, a 3/4 page article about the Guild.)
Et skib et fællesskab
Artikel i Morgenposten Fyens Stifttidende: 1996-03-06.
(One ship, one community
Article in Morgenposten Fyens Stifttidende: 1996-03-06.)
Hjortspringbåden rekonstrueres.
Nyhedsbrev fra Roskilde: no. 6, maj 1996.
(The Hjortspring boat is reconstructed.
Newsletter from Roskilde: no. 6, May 1996.)
Annual report 1999
Knud V. Valbjørn
"Rock Carving Ship Sails Again"
The Hjortspring Boat, Reconstructed
Knud V. Valbjørn
Posts in:
Maritime Warfare in Northern Europe
Publications from the national Museeum Studies in Archaeology & History Vol. 6
ISBN 87-89384-88-1
Reconstruction of the Hjortspring Boat.
Knud Vagn Valbjørn
PS. That's Knud on the right.
Hans Peter Rasmussen (1944 - 2021)
Jørn Anders Jørgensen
Niels Peter Fenger (1938 - 2023)
Member of the design group and has had the primary responsibility for calculation of:
Strength of structural details, Hydrostatics, Form coefficients for comparison with other boats, Hydrodynamics and Strength and deformation.
Hans Lumbye-Hansen
Max Vinner (1941 - 2013)
2000 - 2001.
Paper 1: Philosophy, Execution and Initial Results
Paper 2: Theoretical Performance and initial Test Results
Paper 3: Sailing Tests
The first two have been presented at:
The 8th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology. Conference, held at The Polish Maritime Museum in Gdansk, Poland, 23 - 27 September 1997.
They are, together with the other papers, collected in:
DOWN THE RIVER TO THE SEA.
Proceedings of the Eight International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Gdansk 1997
Edited by Jerzy Litwin
The last by:
The 9th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology. Conference, held in Venice, Italy, 4 - 8 December, 2000.
The articles here are in English and are an abridged version of the papers presented.
Knud V. Valbjørn
The book is 144 pages with over 100 illustrations, most in colour. The figure captions are in Danish, English and German, and there is an English and a German summary.
The book has the following chapters:
- An idea is born
- Organisation (1991-1992)
- Preparation (1992-1993)
- The boat building (1994-1999)
- The launch (1999)
- Calculations
- Sailing and testing
- Conclusions
- Guild knowledge, all yours
- Concluding remarks
Some of the articles on the website are taken directly from this book. Where this is the case, it is indicated under the heading Sources at the bottom of the article.
From the sales brochure:
We have written this book based on the extensive documentation in text and images. It describes the dramatic ten years in which the guild was organised, drawings were extracted from archives and interpreted, the historical background was described, tools were forged, linden wood was hunted all over Europe, woodworking exercises with the tools of the time were carried out, and finally the boat, a replica of the oldest plank boat in Scandinavia, was built. 10,000 man-hours were spent on this. The testing of Tilia Alsie, which took place in collaboration with the National Museum's Naval Archaeological Research Centre, is also described here.
Ole Crumlin-Pedersen & Athena Trakads, editors
A Pre-Roman Iron-age Warship in Context
The Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, 2003
ISBN 0901-778X
ISBN 87-85180-521
The Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde, has published a monograph on the creation of the Hjortrspring Boat in English with summaries in English, Danish and German.
The book has the following chapters:
- Excavation
- Boat conservation, preservation and display
- Building and testing the boat (Tilia Alsie)
- The Hjortspring discovery
- The Hjortspring Boat and ship depictions in the Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Age
- The Hjortspring boat in a maritime archaeological context
The authors are employees at the National Museum and members of the Hjortspring Boat Guild.
This edition may still be available for purchase by contacting the museum.
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde has published 7 volumes in the series Ships and Boat of the North.
Translated from the sales brochure:
This is the 5th volume in the series Ships and Boats of the North, published by the Viking Ship Museum and the National Museum's Marine Archaeological Centre in collaboration with the Hjortspring Boat Guild. Large format (29 x 25 cm), 293 pages, fully illustrated, hardback, CD-ROM included with recordings of construction details, measurements and sailing tests with the replica Tilia Alsie. This monograph is published in the series Ships and Boats of the North, with the aim of illustrating the maritime aspects of early cultures in the North by presenting and analysing important primary finds of ships and boats in the context of contemporary society. The Hjortspring Boat is a particularly good example of the possibilities of studying a prehistoric vessel with its contents as a gateway to understanding the society of which it was a part. This marvellous vessel from around 350 BC is a symbol of prestige, power, perfect craftsmanship and a supreme mastery of shipbuilding in ancient times some 2000 years ago.
Despite the fact that it is more than eighty years since the Hjortspring Boat was excavated, it has not previously been presented and discussed in depth in English. Here, the dramatic history of the original boat is described from its excavation to its current ‘return’ to the exhibition at the National Museum in Copenhagen. The distinctive horns at both ends, with parallels in Bronze Age rock carvings, are discussed along with the key role the vessel occupies in the early history of Nordic shipbuilding.
A full-scale replica named Tilia Alsie was built by the Hjortspring Boat Guild and then tested at sea in collaboration with the National Museum's departments in Copenhagen and Roskilde.
The lessons learnt from the tests have provided important clues to the original use of the boat.
Knud V. Valbjørn
(10 years of Tilia at sea)
Hjortspringlaugets Forlag, 2009
The booklet is 12 pages, mostly with illustrations, most of them in colour.
It contains the experiences we have had with Tilia over the past 10 years of sailing and trials.
It is expressed in the following chapters:
- Overview of sailing events 1999 - 2008
- Constructive choices:
- Sheer
- The horns
- Rib-frames
- Material selection:
- Sewing rope material
- Sealing material
- Wood
- Surface treatment
- Paddling:
- Padels
- Technique
- Long distance sailing
- Stability
- Boarding
- Steering
- With sails
- Back cover
This small print can also be viewed here:
- Text and images in A4-format
- The image on pages 6 and 7 of A3-format
The Hjortspring Boat Guild has produced two copies of this book, one for the guild and one for the author.
It is a description of the production of shield no. 35 from the Hjortspring find.
From literature studies to a finished shield with all the considerations made along the way.
Many approaches have no basis in the find.
The book has the following content:
Introduction. The guild's studies of shields
2. Other sources
3. Drawing basis
4. Woodwork
5. Paintwork
6. Leather cover
Konklusioner
The book is not for sale in hard copy, but can be viewed and downloaded here, free of charge, it is 90 pages long.
Ib Stolberg-Rohr
He has also been responsible for building this website and all its predecessors.
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