Longship
Longships for the most part used two different kinds of anchors. The most common was a natural wood yoke formed from a tree branch. The weight was supplied by a stone passing laterally through the U of the yoke. The top of the yoke was closed by either a length of hardwood or a curved iron head, which kept the stone in place. One side of the head stuck out so it could dig into mud or sand. In the Ladby ship burial in Denmark, a unique iron anchor has been found, resembling the modern fisherman's anchor but without the crossbar. The cross bar may have rusted away. This anchor—made of Norwegian iron—has a long iron chain to which the hemp warp was attached. This construction has several advantages when anchored in deep waters or in rough seas.
Anchor paper
An anchor paper is a sample essay response to an assignment or test question requiring an essay, primarily in an educational effort. Unlike more traditional educational assessments such as multiple choice, essays cannot be graded with an answer key, as no strictly correct or incorrect solution exists. The anchor paper provides an example to the person reviewing or grading the assignment of a well-written response to the essay prompt. Sometimes examiners prepare a range of anchor papers, to provide examples of responses at different levels of merit.