MUSIC ON BOARD THE ROYAL SWEDISH FLAGSHIP KRONAN (LOST 1676)
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-21

Music archaeology has an exclusive capacity as a tool in the so-called Third Mission of Academia, that is, to present research results to the general public (children as well as adults, scholars and laymen) in a way which brings them to life - in that it involves source material which can sound! Music archaeology is an instrument for both art and knowledge. As an example of public outreach I will present the multimedia programme Music on Board the Royal Swedish Flagship Kronan (The Crown). The ship capsized, exploded and sank off the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic Sea in 1676. Of the 842 men in the crew only about 40 were saved. The Kronan wreck is an extremely important find – a Pompeii of the Baltic Sea. With its abundant equipment, its large company and its hierarchical social structure the ship was a society in miniature. Several musical instruments and other sound tools, intact or in fragmented form, have been found on the wreck. Both stringed instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments are represented. There are, of course, many musical instruments preserved from the 17th century. What is special in this case is that the instruments from Kronan are part of an archaeological find-complex that can, moreover, be exactly dated. The musical instruments and sound tools excavated from the Kronan wreck form the basis of the programme that also includes commentaries and a slideshow. Who performed music on board, for whom was the music intended, and what did they play? Questions, problems, methods concerning the current studies of the instrument finds from the Kronan wreck constitute an illuminating example of what I call ”historical music archaeology”.


Author(s): Stomberg Lund, Cajsa (Linnaeus university, Sweden)