Gribshunden was among the first purpose-built sailing warships in northern Europe. We hypothesize that enduring international naval traditions regarding the social division of space aboard warships have their origins in vessels like Gribshunden. To test this hypothesis, we selected for excavation an area in the stern of the ship where we suspect the highest-ranking officers and nobles, including King Hans, would have been stationed. Trench  2 is within the hull, extending from slightly inboard starboard to within approximately 1.5 m of the ship’s centerline. This position is slightly aft and inboard of the excavation conducted in 2019 (see figure 4).

Finds in the trench included several hand weapons and accessories, mail armor elements, accessories related to the artillery, wooden casks, a woven basket recovered en bloc (awaiting conservation), a silver coin, personal possessions including shoes and a comb, a large amount botanical remains including exotic imported spices/medicines, and osteoarchaeological remains of foodstuffs. Complete finds lists of artifacts and samples, archaeobotanical remains, and ostearchaeological remains are attached here as appendices.