Search

Tree‐rings, Kings, and Old World Archaeology and Environment: papers presented in honor of Peter Ian Kuniholm STURT W. Manning and MARY JAYE Bruce ( eds ) 336 pp., 87 figures including colour, 34 t...

In 1954 the remains of a dismantled wooden oar boat were found near the Great (Cheops) Pyramid in Egypt. Over a period of almost 10 years the boat was reassembled. Prior to assembly, the wood was treated with polyvinyl acetate in acetone, pieces showing signs of decay being treated with a paste of wood powder, animal glue and insecticide. On evaluation it seems that the polyvinyl acetate had had only a superficial consolidating effect and had unnecessarily darkened the color. Paraloid B72 in trichloroethylene, polyvinyl butyral in alcohol and colophony (rosin) and wax in trichloroethylene were considered suitable alternatives, applied in continuous drops. The boat is now displayed in a purpose-built museum at the site of its discovery. To stabilize climatic effects it was necessary to introduce insulation and air conditioning, and to reduce lighting. In contrast conditions in the Boat Pit which has also been incorporated into the museum seem to be naturally controlled with a microclimate conducive to preservation. It is hoped that in the future similar conditions can be effected in the entire museum space.

This paper presents the results of new research on underwater archaeological evidence for the maritime transport of sculptures in the ancient Mediterranean. Through the creation of a Mediterranean-wide database and with a focus on information from surviving archaeological deposits, this study explores ancient Greek and Roman sculptures from under water as a dataset of transported artefacts that had a specific function within the maritime context of their discovery. This documentation, analysis and interpretation of underwater deposits with sculptures provide previously unexplored data regarding the geographical extent, date, reasons and circumstances of maritime movement of sculptural artefacts during Antiquity.

This paper reports on the construction of a full-scale Bronze Age-type sewn-plank boat based on the Ferriby boats. The boat, which was named Morgawr, was constructed in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, England, during 2012 and the first months of 2013, as part of a larger exhibition in the museum. This paper provides the background and context of the project, describes the process of building the craft, and reflects in particular on differences between Morgawr and the ‘hypothetical reconstruction of a complete sewn-plank boat’ published in 1990 by Ted Wright and John Coates which formed the basis for this project.

Creating photo-mosaics and plans of submerged archaeological sites quickly, cost-effectively and, most importantly, to a high level of geometric accuracy remains a huge challenge in underwater archaeology. This paper describes a system that takes geo-referenced stereo imagery from a diver-propelled platform and combines it with mapping techniques widely used in the field of robotic science to create high-resolution 2D photo-mosaics and detailed 3D textured models of submerged archaeological features. The system was field tested on the submerged Bronze Age town of Pavlopetri off the coast of Laconia, Greece, in 2010. This paper outlines the equipment used, data collection in the field, image processing and visualization methodology.

It is possible that most or all boats and rig-types used in prehistoric times in the South-East Asia-Pacific region have completely disappeared from the record, and that those recorded by Europeans in the 17th century may have been relatively recent innovations. The purpose of this paper is to introduce to the literature a new source of information on ancient boat and rig designs. This source is the information encoded in rock-art depictions of watercraft. This paper provides a technical appraisal of 18 images of watercraft from the Tutuala region of East Timor. © 2007 The Authors

This paper explores a number of issues in regard to the world heritage listing of the World War II underwater cultural heritage sites located in Truk Lagoon. The destruction of the Japanese Naval Base at Truk was an important event in the American strategy to end World War II and it had a profound effect on the indigenous inhabitants. Divers from all over the world visit Truk Lagoon to dive the 50 shipwrecks and numerous aircraft. The paper investigates the significance of the sites in accordance with the criteria for world heritage listing, and in context with Pacific Island Nations requirements.

Following on from Thijs Maarleveld's paper in 1995 on type-names for archaeological finds of ships, the use of the term cog has been questioned by Timm Weski, who suggested the archaeological term Ijsselmeer-type instead. The present paper surveys a total of 18 ship-finds of this type with respect to date, origin and year of investigation, without finding support for the proposed change in terminology. Instead, the archaeological term cog should be restricted to seagoing vessels of the 12th–15th centuries which share the structural features of the lower part of hull with the Bremen Cog. Recent results of dendroanalysis point to the root of the Jutland peninsula as a more likely area than the former Zuiderzee for the transformation of a hypothetical older ‘proto-cog’-type for navigation on rivers and in the Waddensee into the proper seagoing medieval cog-type. Impulses for this transformation were found, most likely, in the need to circumnavigate Cape Skagen already in the 12th century, and technical features were probably taken over from large Scandinavian cargo ships of that period.

This article reports on the results of a research project entitled ‘KARAVOI. The Ship Graffiti on the Medieval Monuments of Cyprus: Mapping, Documentation and Digitisation’, during which 233 ship graffiti were recorded in 44 different monuments on the island, dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Innovative recording techniques have been used to mitigate the effects of the subjective or partial recording of graffiti lines on tracing paper. Apart from the study of ship graffiti as iconographic sources, particular emphasis has been given to their geographical and social context through a comprehensive analysis of the graffiti types and their spatial distribution in the monuments as well as the monuments location on the island.

© 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2017 The Nautical Archaeology Society. This article reports the results of using a sector-scan sonar to record diverse submerged archaeological sites in shallow and deep water. The Kongsberg MS1000 sector-scan sonar was developed for commercial applications, typically underwater inspections of bridges, dams, ports and harbours. The ability of the device to rapidly generate high-quality, geometrically accurate scans of submerged features, coupled with its ease of use and deployment make it a potentially important, yet largely overlooked, tool for survey and management of underwater archaeological sites. As one of several technologies available, the paper examines its advantages and limitations, and considers, through case studies, under which conditions it is most effectively deployed.

This paper presents the findings from surveys carried out in March 2016 of two wrecks sunk during the Battle of Jutland. The remains of HMS Indefatigable had previously only been partially understood. SMS V4, was found and surveyed for the first time. They represent the first and last ships sunk and allow the timings of the opening and closing of the battle to be established. In the case of HMS Indefatigable, the discovery that the ship broke in two, seemingly unnoticed, substantially revises the narrative of the opening minutes of the battle.

The Odyssey Case refers to the dispute between Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (OME) and the Kingdom of Spain in the US courts to determine the ownership of more than 500,000 coins, as well as other artefacts, that OME recovered from a wreck-site it had code-named Black Swan. However, the process was much more than a dispute over the coins. It reflected many of the components involved in the protection of underwater archaeological heritage, especially when economic and political interests are at stake. Written from the perspective of an archaeologist working for the regional authority responsible for developing archaeological policy, this paper tries to assess the case's impact on future policy development.

Since 2006, four maritime archaeology field schools, desktop and field surveys have been carried out in Guam. In 2012 a site associated with the United States Navy's Construction Battalion (US Seabees) was investigated. This paper summarizes the historical background of Guam and the known sites of maritime archaeological interest, particularly those dating to World War II. The problems of public interpretation of the cultural material of colonial powers are considered, and, using the Seabee site as an example, ways in which Guam's indigenous Chamorro people can be included in this history are presented.

In 2012 a joint project survey to document and study submerged cultural heritage began along the southern Croatian coast. The survey, part of the Illyrian Coastal Exploration Program, produced wreck-sites from a wide time range that include the Roman, Byzantine and Post Medieval eras. Recording and artefact sampling of the sites was conducted during field operations, along with fabric analysis of amphoras and post conservation analyses of ceramics. This paper will provide a description of the sites and their artefacts, and places several of them in historical context.

The archaeology of the post-Emancipation Caribbean remains relatively understudied. The collapse of the industrial-scale sugar plantation systems of the islands in the early 19th century saw a radical re-organization of socio-economic life. A new corpus of consumers was created, eking out a living on the margins of island society, but never quite liberated. This period sees the emergence of an Afro-Caribbean maritime culture focused upon shipbuilding, fishing, turtling and whaling, the latter a particular feature of the eastern Caribbean (Windward Islands). The archaeology of whaling communities, is relatively well understood from the perspective of North America, Australasia and Europe, but less so in the Caribbean. Using two case studies based upon recent excavation and survey work, this paper sheds light on a distinctive maritime cultural response in the post-emancipation Eastern Caribbean world.

This paper presents the outcomes of sidescan sonar and archaeological diving surveys in 2015 of two wrecked vessels located off Flotta Island, Orkney, North Scotland. Archival research indicates these are the remains of Anti-Torpedo Close Protection Pontoons (ATCPP), an experimental protection device used for close protection of naval vessels at anchor in Scapa Flow from attack by aircraft-launch torpedoes. The pontoons were only in operation in Scapa Flow for 13 months (March 1941-April 1942) and few were brought into service. As such they represent a rare heritage resource, for which very little is known about their operation.

A Roman wreck, Plemmirio B, lies in 22–47 m depth off the southern (Plemmirio) cliffs of Penisola della Maddalena, 5 km south of the Great Harbour (Porto Grande) of siracusa, Sicily (Figs 1, 2). The wreck was first seen in 1953, and was discovered anew by a University of Bristol expedition in 1974. Investigations at the site are now complete, after a programme of intensive survey and excavation by teams from the Universities of Bristol (1983) and Cambridge (1985, 1987). An interim report, based on work carried out to the end of the 1983 campaign, has been published (Gibbins & Parker, 1986); the present paper is the first of several reports to contain interim discussion of results from the 1985 and 1987 seasons. The Plemmirio B ship was transporting a small cargo of iron bars and North African cylindrical amphoras, and is a type-site for a group of 20 wrecks indicative of the first major phase of amphora export from Africa Proconsularis about the time of the Emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193–211). The first part of this paper contains a brief description of research objectives and methodology at Plemmirio, and a preliminary outline of 1985 and 1987 findings. Concentration in the second part is on two categories of artefacts among the assemblage of domestic objects from the ship's galley and living area. A unique discovery on an ancient wreck was a collection of medical equipment, probably part of a surgeon's instrumentarium; this material comprised two bronze scalpel handles with blunt dissectors, a bronze scalpel handle combined with an iron cautery or cataract needle (?), and a possible wooden ‘bandaging stick’. Four pottery lamps, one stamped on the base IVNDRA, an abbreviation of the maker's name, are also of exceptional interest. All are of a general form datable elsewhere to the Severan period; two can be provenanced to North Africa and two to central Tyrrhenian Italy, a pattern which is reflected in other domestic pottery from the wreck and is further evidence of the ship's movement between the ports of Africa Proconsularis and Rome[1].

The regulation of scientific and archaeological diving is complex but it is essential that underwater archaeologists are familiar with the requirements placed on them by legal systems. This paper outlines the history and development of current legal systems in four jurisdictions: the UK, USA, EU and Australia. This historical and legal approach informs key discussions facing maritime archaeologists; reference is made to training requirements, safety records and the question of who should be allowed to participate and who should be excluded from archaeological diving.

Previous underwater cultural heritage investigations conducted in the western Pacific's Northern Mariana Islands largely focused on the submerged World War Two remains, despite the islands’ rich colonial history. The island chain was the setting of numerous historical occupations including indigenous Chamorro populations, Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States, all of which created a lasting maritime heritage legacy on land and under water. This paper presents the first colonial shipwreck investigation to be undertaken by archaeologists and fills a gap in our history and knowledge of the Mariana Islands’ pre-World War Two era.

This paper reports on the first systematic attempt to conduct archaeological survey and excavation for submerged prehistory on the island of Ireland. Fieldwork was conducted in two small bays where Early Mesolithic flint artefacts washed ashore hinted at the presence of a submerged assemblage. Methods employed include non-intrusive survey, hand coring and excavation. Together, these allowed identification of the artefact source, albeit reworked, in one bay and an early Holocene peat in the other. Though the subtidal assemblage is reworked and relatively small, it is significant in an Irish context and more widely illustrates the potential preservation of prehistoric sites and palaeo-landscapes in high-energy settings.

This paper considers the 1864 wreck of Grafton in the Auckland Islands, and its implications for wreck analysis and pre-Cook exploration claims. The captain of Grafton, Thomas Musgrave, stated that the schooner was built from the wreck of a Spanish man-o-war, and archaeological analysis of the wreck found that the timbers are a tropical South American species, and had possibly been reused. The implications of this are clear; it is possible that timbers that originated in pre-Cook (1769) ships lie in New Zealand, but without a full understanding of the historical and archaeological context of any such timbers, including their reuse in later ships, it is not possible to claim proof of pre-Cook European exploration of New Zealand.

The survival of late medieval Mediterranean techniques to conceive and build ships and boats in Brazil was noted by John Patrick Sarsfield in the 1980s, but his study of the Valenca shipwrights was interrupted by his untimely death in 1990. This paper summarizes Sarsfield's account of these shipbuilding techniques, examines that published by Lev Smarcevski (1996), and provides some preliminary results of the pilot stage of a project to further research traditional shipbuilding in Valenca and the Baia de Todos os Santos region.

This paper presents the debate over the presence or absence of keels in the construction of Egyptian ships of the dynastic period. It contains an analysis of ship representations and models dating to the 18th–20th dynasties of the New Kingdom (c.1539–1077 BC) that provide evidence for the introduction of keels in Egyptian shipbuilding, and new archaeological material from excavations at Thonis-Heracleion that sheds more light on the question.

This paper completes the description of the western river steamboat Heroine (1832–1838) (Crisman et al. 2013b; Crisman, 2014), with a detailed analysis of the steam propulsion machinery recovered. Heroine's place in the development of steam technology is analysed through historic sources and comparable finds, and the requirements of river navigation explored. Changes to the paddle flange and the short-lived use of flywheels are particularly noted. The many variations in the iron castings and evidence of makeshift repairs provide insight into the material, engineering and economic constraints faced by engine manufacturers and steamboat engineers in the second quarter of the 19th century.

The Northumberland, a third-rate man-of-war was lost with all hands during the Great Storm of 26–27 November 1703 on the Goodwin Sands—famously known as ‘the ship swallower’. It was rediscovered in 1980 by local divers following the location of a sister ship, the Stirling Castle. Since, the primary concern has been to record exposed structural remains, ordnance and artefacts, and interpret the wreck formation of the site. This paper describes the results of this work, and discusses in particular the size of the keel, the use of chocks, and standardization of ordnance in the Restoration Navy through reference to comparable ship-finds and historical records.

Did ancient Mediterranean shipbuilders at the turn of the first millennium have methods to pre-design the shape of their hulls prior to the construction of the ship? If so, can these methods be identified? This paper proposes that ancient shipwrights were in possession of such design methods, based on geometry, that are comparable to the medieval and post medieval hull-design procedures called whole-moulding. These methods are well suited to be transformed into rules-of-thumb, therefore allowing the storage and transmission of accumulated knowledge. The implications of this proposal on the present understanding of the transition from shell- to skeleton-building are explored.

Discovered in 1955, not far from the Roman necropolis of Pedemonte, the Gravellona Toce boat has long been considered evidence of Roman era riverine navigation in northern Italy. This initial interpretation, which was not supported by direct dating evidence, has been recently reconsidered on the basis of radiocarbon dating and analysis of the timbers retrieved. In this paper, the authors present the results of the recent analysis of the surviving remains of the boat which allow it to be interpreted as a post-medieval boat built using the traditional bottom-based construction techniques of the Po Valley region.

In the 1980s, the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology, led by Dr Kalin Porozhanov, undertook limited work on a post medieval wreck lost off Cape Urdovize, near the town of Kitten. In 2000, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and the Centre for Underwater Archaeology returned to excavate and record the shipwreck in detail. The largest and arguably most important artefact was the hull itself, as it is the first complete excavation of a Black Sea merchantman, dated to the late 18th or very early 19th century. This paper offers a complete and corrected description of the structure of the vessel.

A wide variety of traditional wooden boats and small ships can still be seen in use and being built on the mainland of Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar. This paper compares different accounts in the literature with observations made in 2012, and documents in detail the various stages of building wooden dhows on the beaches of Zanzibar.

This paper presents both archaeological evidence and technical features that allows the identification of two of the wooden objects discovered in 2001 at the site of a 1st-century-AD shipyard in Olbia, Sardinia, as masts. The structure and dimensions of the objects are presented and compared with similar artefacts which have been interpreted as rudder-stocks in order to establish their specific and distinct features. Possible retaining and lowering systems for the masts, and evidence of wooden mast-ladders are discussed through examination of archaeological parallels and Roman iconography.

This paper describes the design and construction of the side-wheel steamer Heroine, a representative of the ‘western river steamboat’ type and the earliest example of its kind to undergo archaeological study. Heroine was built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1832 and sunk on the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas in 1838. The extensive remains of the lower hull show assembly practices in use during the developmental era of Mississippi River steamboats. The wreck also reveals a heretofore-unknown technique for longitudinally strengthening these long, narrow, and very lightly built hulls.

On the East coast of Tunisia, between Sousse and Sfax, lie the scant remains of the ancient city of Thapsus, notable mainly for a battle fought in the civil war in 46 BC. Visits by the authors resulted in the discovery of one of the longest-known harbour moles in the entire Roman Empire. No ancient sources make reference to any work of such magnitude and the paper suggests that the harbour was never completed, but might have been started by the local emperors Gordianus, none of whom survived long enough to have executed such a project.

From AD 1274 Chinese emperor Kublai Khan dispatched fleets of ships in a series of attempts to expand the empire's hegemony and extend his rule into East Asia (Japan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Champa and Java). Archaeological remains associated with the fleets and battles have been found at Takashima Island, Japan and on the Bạch Ðằng River, Vietnam. This paper develops a thematic approach to these sites within a framework of naval battlefield archaeology. It compares the similarities and differences in environmental conditions and archaeological contexts of the two sites in Japan and Vietnam. It also outlines recent archaeological research conducted between 2008 and 2010 on the physical remains at the Bạch Ðằng River battlefield site.

In the Middle Ages walls and ditches were used for defensive purposes on land; city walls and moats surrounding castles are part and parcel of the public image of the Middle Ages. Less well known are the defence systems constructed under the sea to protect harbours and waterways. In Scandinavia such systems, ship-blockages, are especially well investigated in Denmark. In Norway medieval harbour-defence systems and ship-blockages are less known. This paper presents and discusses medieval harbours and defence systems in Norway, in particular the newly discovered jetty and possible ship-blockage on Veoy in Romsdal, western Norway.

With its basis in the Aanloop Molengat-wreck research, this paper reflects on two issues: the relationship between written and archaeological sources and the comparability of archaeological field data. The first theme results in a discussion of Nicolaes Witsen's work on shipbuilding and his rendering of primary source material. The second theme results in a discussion of more or less contemporary wrecks for which field data is available. Timber density is compared and a diagnostic index for what have loosely been termed Dutch-flush merchant ships is proposed. Inconsistencies between field data and historical analysis are presented as a field of further research.

This paper describes the excavation, discoveries relating to the hull, machinery, and artefacts, and the history of an early steamboat wreck discovered in the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas. The wreck has been identified as the side-wheel steamer Heroine, a vessel in service on the Mississippi, Ohio, and other western rivers of North America during the 1830s. It is the earliest example of this famous type of vessel yet studied.

Xlendi Bay, Gozo, Malta, is a rich underwater site. It was discovered in 1961 by British Navy divers on a training mission. Since then, a significant number of artefacts has been retrieved but not well studied. This paper summarizes a recent detailed study of the archaeological material and describes five amphora types that have not yet been identified. It also takes deep-water surveys that have recently been conducted by various teams into consideration.

Within the framework of the activities of the Soprintendenza del Mare of Sicily, a bronze ram was recovered just north of the Straits of Messina, in the area of Acqualadroni. This paper discusses technical and iconographic features of the ram and compares them with others found in Sicily, Piraeus, Tuscany and Athlit. The study shows the Acqualadroni Ram has more analogies with the latter, although it also has unique features. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the ram was used on a warship dating from the mid-2nd century BC. It is therefore possible that the Acqualadroni Ram was lost during the Naulochus battle (36 BC) or during the Civil Wars that gave rise to the rule of Octavian.

As part of a research project on medieval trade and maritime transportation in the former Norwegian province of Bohuslan, western Sweden, a dendrochronological analysis of the so-called Mollo cog was undertaken. The wreck, which was first salvaged in 1980, was previously dated by 14C analysis. Since this provided a nearly 400-year time-span for the building of the vessel, a more precise dating was considered essential. In conjunction with dendrochronological sampling, several features not previously reported were recorded. This paper presents the find, the research history and the results of the dendrochronological investigation. © 2012 The Authors

This paper presents the findings from a survey of one of the shipwrecks of the Battle of Jutland, and is extracted from a longer currently unpublished report which examines the six known Royal Navy wrecks. While all of the wrecks yielded unique insights into the battle, Defence was a particularly surprising case. The extant remains of this wreck showed for the first time how the ship was destroyed and explains what some eyewitnesses reported at the time. Intact and unsalvaged, it is a source of much valuable archaeological and historical data. © 2012 The Author. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2012 The Nautical Archaeology Society.

The study of traditional boats has enhanced our knowledge of the maritime past. Traditional boats are both river- and sea-worthy. They have been used in rivers for transporting cargo to inland ports from ships anchored at sea, and have often been used in naval warfare. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the sewn-plank boats of Goa, their building techniques and other features in order to understand their quality and how they were used in the past for an inland river-transport system. © 2011 The Authors

This paper outlines the archaeological evidence found at the demolished Royal Naval Dockyard at Woolwich for the development and construction of dockyard structures of the 18th to early-19th centuries. This is set within the framework provided by historic, documentary, map and historic-model evidence. The results of earlier excavations at the same facility are also reviewed. The themes covered include; the interplay of ‘carpentry’ versus ‘shipwrightry’ in dockyard construction, aspects of naval timber-supply and landscape, the recycling of ships' timbers, dockyard craft specialisation and changing relative sea-levels. © 2011 Pre-Construct Archaeology Limited

This paper presents the results of an integrated historical and geophysical survey of a medieval town lost through cliff recession and coastal inundation. Key objectives included evaluating historic maps in supporting the relocation and identification of major buildings, and applying integrated multibeam, side-scan and sub-bottom profiling to determine the location and extent of archaeological remains. The results demonstrate that cartographic sources from 1587 onwards can be a reliable source of data to guide geophysical survey. Integration of historical mapping with geophysical data enabled identification of the remains of two medieval structures, and the tentative identification of two others.

This paper outlines work currently being undertaken to reconstruct submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland. This research uses the recently-completed Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS), which has provided full-coverage high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data for the sea-bed off the north coast. This data has been examined for evidence of past sea-level change and been used to produce palaeo-geographic reconstructions of the past landscape, which in turn have facilitated the identification of ten areas of high archaeological potential. The results presented here will form the basis of a future programme of archaeological survey and prospection.

This paper describes Phase 1 of the project ‘Archaeological Applications of the Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS) Data’, analysing bathymetric and backscatter data derived from multibeam surveys off the north coast of Ireland. In particular, the usability of the data for shipwreck detection, identification and site characterization is explored. In Phase 1, the data was screened for anomalous sea-bed features, which were subsequently described, catalogued and categorized according to their archaeological potential and cross-referenced against existing records. A planned second phase of this project will examine each anomaly in greater detail together with the local and regional hydrodynamic conditions.