IN SEARCH OF HET-BEHOUDEN-HUYS - A SURVEY OF THE REMAINS OF THE HOUSEOF BARENTSZ,WILLEM ON NOVAYA-ZEMLYA

In August 1992, a Russian-Dutch expedition organized by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Arctic Centre of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands surveyed the s ite of the house on Novaya Zemlya in which the Dutch explorer Willem B arentsz and his crew spent the winter of 1596-97. This survey made it clear that the plundering bf the site had been so profound that an exc avation would be useless. Comparison of the results of the 1992 survey with the observations made by Elling Carlsen, who discovered the site in 1871, showed that it is improbable that all the remaining objects are still in situ. However, the field study and the supplementary hist orical research nevertheless cast some new light onto interesting aspe cts of this notable event in the history of the discovery of the regio n around the North Pole. The visit to the site made clear that the hou se was built on a peninsula, and not on the shore of a bay as had been thought up to now. The immediate surroundings turned out to be flat, and not hilly as historical illustrations suggested. It was also evide nt that these illustrations usually show a mirror image of the house. The house appears to have been constructed in the log cabin manner, wi th beams which slotted into each other at the comers. The objects foun d in 1992 made it clear that much handiwork was done during the winter ing. The bone material informed us about the diet of the winterers, wh ich consisted of salted beef and fox meat.