Kanhavekanalen, Samsø

Kanhavekanalen was an excavated canal built in the Germanic Iron Age across the narrow isthmus connecting the north and south islands of Samsø at the narrowest point of the isthmus from Mårup Vig in the west to Stavns Fjord in the east. The canal, which is about 500 metres long and 11 metres wide, is an excellent piece of engineering and could be navigated by vessels with a draught of up to about 1 metre.

In parts of the canal, the banks were covered with a bulwark of two to four horizontal wooden planks, dendrochronologically dated to 726.

In 2016, the Danish Antiquity in the Landscape project placed a Corten steel model of the Ladby ship at the quay in the old canal, together with a reconstruction of the canal's bulwark, so that you can imagine what the military naval port looked like when the man-made canal was used over 1000 years ago.