ARKHANGELSK, November 3. /TASS/. The board of a 17th-century stitched Pomor traditional naval vessel - koch - will be presented at the Northern Maritime Museum in Arkhangelsk under the Night of Arts program, the museum's Director Evgeny Tenetov told TASS. To date, this is the largest and most integral element of a spruce-twigs stitched Pomor vessel found in Russia. The restored element was found during restoration works in downtown Arkhangelsk.

The Night of Arts is an annual national cultural and educational event, held since 2013 in early November. It features museums, theaters, libraries, concert and exhibition halls, and cultural centers. The program includes excursions, performances, concerts, lectures, film screenings and master classes in face-to-face and online formats. The aim is to introduce arts and cultural heritage to a wide audience.

"This is the first find of the kind - a preserved integral element of a Pomor stitched vessel. Judging by the planks thickness, this vessel must have been about 20 meters long, quite big for the traditional wooden fleet. The vessel is stitched with spruce twigs and secured with treenails (fastening rods - TASS). All the boards are not sawn, they are chopped and hewn with an axe. This is a classic carpentry shipbuilding job. This part of the side was discovered at a depth of more than 2.5 meters, at the site of the fountain near the Sports Palace on the Profsoyuzov Square," the museum's director said. "After the conducted conservation and restoration, it is now part of the exposition."

The find was lying in peat, where the oxygen-free environment ensured its excellent preservation. However, as soon as wood gets exposed to air, it may start to rot. To preserve the artifact, it was dried for several weeks, cleaned of peat, soil, moss and other contaminants, and then a special solution, replacing cellulose, was injected into the boards through a syringe.

"The restorer makes this composition individually. It is both a binder and a preservative element. The process is time-consuming, as it is important to soak the wood thoroughly. The restorers have chosen the technology of injections through the veins," the museum's director said.

The ship's side was made of pine planks sewn together with spruce twigs. This is an old Pomor technology. Koch and other boats that the coast-dwellers made in this way were well adapted to the northern seas. When wet, the wooden nails and twigs expanded thus protecting the vessel very well from water ingress. On the recent find, there are traces of repair with metal forged brackets. Quite probably, the fragment was reinforced after it ceased to be part of the ship. The fact that it was a detail of a naval vessel was seen clearly during the drying, when a large amount of salt appeared on the wooden surface.

Other lives of wooden vessels

Scientists can hardly guess how the found side fragment was used. It could have been a canopy or a deck - the find was lying horizontally. Archaeologists have found next to it a beam, which is a crossbeam on the ship that connects the opposite sides and serves as the deck support. "Beams" is a Dutch term, while the Pomors used to call this detail as "pereshva". This artifact currently undergoes restoration, and, upon its completion, it will also be displayed at the museum.

The wooden vessel's remains were discovered by specialists of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology during works in Arkhangelsk. The tradition of using parts of ships for some other buildings - houses, farm buildings, decking, sidewalks - is typical for many marine cultures, including the Pomors.

The Pomors' technology was to stitch side boards of ships with twisted and boiled spruce or pine twigs. The seams between the side boards were caulked with moss. The Northern Maritime Museum exposition demonstrates a small side fragment of the Pomor karbas: two stitched thin boards.

During dendrology tests, scientists want to age exactly the find, or rather to find out the year when the tree from which the ship was made had been cut down.

On November 3, during the new exhibition object's presentation, leader of the Pomor Shipbuilding Association Evgeny Shkaruba will tell the audience about work on the project to build the Pomors' stitched boat - koch, and about plans for the Mangazeya Sea Passage project.