In the Netherlands, off the coast of the Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands (Frisian Islands, Wadden Islands), fishermen, by a lucky chance, pulled out of the water a fragment of an old ship - a carved wooden head. On the advice of scientists, the find was immediately placed in a container filled with sea water so that the material would not dry out and be harmed. The artifact is made of oak, which under other circumstances would have been destroyed by shipworms. However, the environment where the object fell protected it from destruction.
According to preliminary data, the sculpture adorned a warship during the Eighty Years' War, or the Dutch Revolution. This religious-political war consisted of two phases (1566–1609, 1621–1648) and ended with the recognition of the independence of the Seven United Provinces (the Dutch Republic). It is not for nothing that one of the fragments of the sculpture that interested researchers is a headdress resembling a Phrygian hat, which has become a symbol of freedom and independence. After all, the main goal of the Eighty Years' War was liberation from Spanish rule. There is another version, according to which sailors engaged in whaling wore such a hat: the headdress not only warmed the sailors, but also was a kind of marker with its own symbols.
Many ships of the Dutch East India Company rest in the Wadden Sea. Probably, the board of one of them was decorated with the found sculpture. The main task of scientists in the near future is to study and protect the artifact, and then determine which ship it belonged to.
