The Bremen-Cog: environmental issues

The Bremen-Cog was dated by dendrochronology in the 1960s when the discipline was in its infancy. The felling date of winter 1378/79 in the Weser Uplands was established and confirmed in 2007. In 2016 a new comprehensive analysis of the ship was made possible. All analysed samples are from trees likely felled in the last quarter of the 14th century in the direct hinterlands of Bremen. Furthermore, an attempt at tree morphology reconstruction and a detailed investigation into the trees’ growing features were carried out, revealing a poor timber quality, which was originally not necessarily intended for the purpose of shipbuilding.