A routine railway tunnel project in the Swedish coastal town of Varberg has turned into an unexpected archaeological event, after construction crews cut into a buried stretch of the town's medieval waterfront and uncovered the remains of six separate shipwrecks. The vessels range from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century, with four dating to the medieval or late medieval period, one to the 1600s, and one that has so far resisted every attempt at dating. The find offers archaeologists a rare, layered snapshot of shipbuilding techniques and harbour life across several centuries, all preserved directly beneath what is now the centre of a modern Swedish city. Archaeologists say the unresolved fire damage on Wreck 2 is particularly tantalising, since determining whether it was accidental or deliberate could shed further light on conflicts or hazards common to medieval harbour life along Sweden's coast.
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