In the summer of 2002, thousands flocked to the banks of the River Usk in Newport, South Wales, to see a piece of history. Today, in the middle of a building site, the mud was cleared to reveal the 500-year-old remains of a trading ship.
Built in 1447, it is the world’s best preserved example of a 15th century vessel. Nearly 10 years after it was uncovered, archaeologists are still making new discoveries about life on board.
They hope that in the next decade the ship will be rebuilt and put on display in its own museum.
For almost 10 years, archaeologists have been carefully working through hundreds of boxes of artifacts that were also salvaged from the mud.
Toby Jones, curator of the Newport medieval ship project, said: “We have literally thousands of things like shoes, coins, animal bones, fish bones, nuts, seeds, pollen.
“It’s all very interesting and can tell you so much about what life was like back in the medieval period.”
