Discovered by divers from the French Navy Diving School in 1967, the archaeological investigations of the Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens constituted the first large scale, "truly scientific underwater excavation[s] carried out in France".[1] The wreck lies at around 18 to 20 metres depth[2] off the coast of the small fishing port of La Madrague de Giens on the Giens Peninsula, east of Toulon, on the southern Mediterranean coast of France.[3] Sunk around 75–60 BCE, the vessel has been found to be "a large merchantman of considerable tonnage—400 tons deadweight with a displacement of around 550 tons",[4] making it one of the largest Roman wrecks excavated, with only the wreck at Albenga, Italy (around 600 tons deadweight) exceeding it at the time of its discovery.[5] The vessel wrecked at Madrague de Giens measured around 40 metres in length;[1] has a "wine glass" section which would have given better ability to sail to windward;[6] displayed extended raking of the stem and stern; and had two masts.[4] The hull was characterised by a reverse stempost in the shape of a ram with a big cutwater which "must have given... [the] craft high-performance sailing qualities".[4] The ship sank while transporting a large cargo of wine and black glazed pottery from Italy.[1] It is not known why it sank.
In the summer of 1972 a team of maritime archaeologists of the Archaeological Institute, run jointly in Aix-en-Provence (France) by the University of Provence and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research or CNRS)[1] began what was planned as three years of work on the recently discovered Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens. The archaeological investigations would end up running for 11 seasons, only concluding in 1982,[1] and are notable for first utilising a number of archaeological techniques still used in underwater excavation. Unbeknownst to the team of diver-archaeologists who first began documenting the wreck, the Madrague de Giens vessel would soon be revealed as one of the "largest ancient ships whose remains have ever been found under the sea".[1]
Throughout the excavations the team was led by Andre Tchernia, France's "first director of research in underwater archaeology"[1] and then assistant director of CNRS, and Patrice Pomey, a maritime archaeologist.
The first four years of excavations, undertaken from 1972 to 1975 (with the results published in 1978),[7] focused on the central area of the ship. These excavations established the approximate age of the wreck (around the middle of first century BCE) and determined the cargo the ship was carrying at the time of its sinking.[2] They also helped in determining the origin of the cargo - amphorae from Terracina, Italy and Campanian ceramics and pottery.[2]
From 1976 to 1982 excavations focused on the other parts of the wreck not uncovered in previous seasons. The 1976 to 1979 campaigns primarily involved the stern which had been well preserved under 2 to 3 metre deep sediment.[2] Once uncovered, the stern, which is one of the largest and most complete of all Roman wrecks, revealed important information about the construction of the ship.[2] In 1980 focus shifted to the front of the ship. A 4-metre unexcavated area, deemed to be of little interest and not worth the time it would take to excavate, was left between the centre and stern of the wreck as the archaeologists moved to the extreme front of the ship.[2]
The stern was abandoned in favour of the bow as what had already been uncovered suggested that parallels might possibly be made between the Madrague de Giens wreck and classical iconography and the archaeologists wished to explore this further.[2] With the bow uncovered it was clear that the shape and proportions of the ship were indeed similar to images created at the time of its wrecking, particularly that of the Ocean God mosaic in the Themetra baths in Tunisia.[4]
With the extreme front of the ship recorded, archaeologists moved back towards the centre of the wreck, beginning at the rearmost portion of the 'front' section and working forwards.[2] Throughout the excavations it was discovered that the site may have been heavily impacted by divers who had salvaged from the wreck. After analysis it was concluded that most, if not all, of the salvage operations most likely occurred not long after the ship was wrecked. It appeared that almost half the amphorae had been removed and the site was strewn with rocks (which were most likely used by free divers) from the Giens peninsula.[4]
By the end of excavations in 1982 almost all of the wreck had been uncovered, revealing a ship with a concavely profiled bow and a convex stern; a sharp, prominent keel; two masts; and a heavy cargo load,[2] a shape well attested by iconography but not common in the Roman world.
Excavation techniques
The excavation of the wreck at Madrague de Giens utilised a number of archaeological techniques common in underwater archaeology. Using an air pump objects were carefully extricated and recorded before they were removed. Important artefacts, including each amphora, had a number attached to them. These numbers were designed to be clearly visible throughout excavation and to remain as cataloguing numbers through processing and the eventual storage of the recovered items.[1] Comprehensive stereoscopic photographic recording was undertaken across the site at a number of levels and the hull was carefully examined and partly dismantled to determine how it was built.[1]
Studying the hull called for the most spectacular measures. In order to examine the keel and take samples from it, it was necessary to dig a tunnel under the hull and to use underwater chain-saws. The fragments removed were taken apart and studied trenail by trenail on land, then reassembled exactly as before and returned to their place in the wreck.[1]
After excavation concluded in 1982 the wreck at Madrague de Giens was reburied in sand and left on the seabed.[1]
Archaeological significance
The wreck at Madrague de Giens is significant not only because it is one of the largest Roman vessels ever discovered, or that its excavation was the first “truly scientific underwater excavation carried out in France”,[1] but because it also reveals important information about Roman art. During the excavations Pomey created a detailed, scale plan of the hull which he then compared with a selection of images showing ships from around the same time period as the wreck. He discovered that in several mosaics the proportions and shapes were identical to his own plans,[1] suggesting three things: firstly, that mosaics "represent ancient ships with much more realism and accuracy than might be supposed";[1] secondly, that the deteriorated, destroyed or lost parts of the Madrague de Giens wreck (such as the rigging) were likely similar to those displayed in the images; and thirdly, based on the date ranges of the comparable mosaics, "that this type of ship was built to a virtually identical pattern for more than three centuries".[1]
Ship construction
The dimensions of Madrague de Giens portray a tall two-masted[4] merchant ship with an estimated displacement of 520 tons implying a total cargo weight of 400 tons,[8] one of the two or three largest ancient ships to be found underwater.[1] It was known as a myriophoroi, capable of carrying 10,000 amphorae.[8] An alternative proposed estimate of the size of the ship, which modelled the likely hull lines, gives a cargo carrying capacity of 320 tons, which equates to 6,400 amphoras.[9]
A sharp bottom and prominent keel[8] create a “wine glass” shaped hull with, consequently, significant lateral resistance.[4] A strongly curved hull profile and the depth of the keel reduced leeway, so indicating that this ship was designed to have better windward performance than many of its contemporaries.[6] This hull design is characterized by a reverse stempost with a cutwater,[4] enabling the vessel to compensate for its large, non-specialized, powerful square sails and giving it speed.[1][8]
A schematic of the mortise and tenon technique for shipbuilding that dominated the Mediterranean until the 7th century BC.
The vessel contained framing composed of various elements (keel, fore foot, stempost, cutwater, sternpost, inner post, false post), double planking (assembled entirely by mortise-and-tenon joints pegged from the inside) and was covered with a sheet of lead.[8] What is referred to as a large keelson is actually a 7.5m long mast-step timber[10] made of oak[3] which doubles the axial frame. The stringers, nailed onto the frames, reinforced the hull longitudinally.[8] Regularly alternated floor timbers and half frames comprised the framing of the vessel.[8] The wreck indicates the vessel was about 40m long (35.10m remains preserved on the seabed[2]), 9m wide, and 4.5m deep with a length-to-beam coefficient of 4.4[4](if L=40m, L/W=4.4).[2] This coefficient of elongation-rate of length to width allows the ship to be much faster than those with a lower coefficient.[2]
The vessel was built by a method of construction known as shell-first or plating, meaning that the frame was built first with the later addition of a skeleton.[2] It was, however, not built entirely shell-first, but involved some elements of skeleton or frame-first construction.[7] The keel, extended by a long fore foot ending with a concave stempost tilted towards the back,[8] was laid first, then edge jointed by mortise (10 to 12cm deep and 8cm wide) and tenon (20 to 22cm long, 8cm wide, and 1.5cm thick),[10] construction to three strakes.[7] This first section of the ship, the keel and the first three planks, was made from elm.[3] Floor timbers were then bolted directly to the keel, giving greater rigidity to the internal skeleton.[5] Next, the rest of the framing was added, joined with straight nails and treenails.[7] These few early frames acted as guides and supports during construction.[5] Then, the rest of the planking was added, the lower skeleton first, followed by the upper shell (independent of the frames, with treenails inserted from inside the hull).[7] Futtocks were inserted last and a second skin of thinner planks of fir[3] was fitted to the exterior of the ship and covered in lead.[7] A layer of planks, 6cm thick,[10] was also fitted inside in order to cover the internal frames, strengthening the hull through double planking[7] and elaborate, complex keel scarves.[11] A massive cutwater, over a length of 1.45m, placed against the front-butt protected and strengthened the stern of the axial frame.[2]
Unusually, for a Mediterranean ship dated to classical antiquity, the hull was largely built of hardwoods. The only significant softwood element is the outer skin of the hull planking. The inner (and main) planking layer is of elm, which was also used for the keel, ceiling and other hull framework components. The mast step is of oak and most of the futtocks are walnut.[12]:62–65
The structure of the ship's hull is a good example of the edge-to-edge mortised and tenoned hull planking providing much of the hull's strength. The sectional dimensions of the frames are not of appreciably greater than, for instance, those of the Kyrenia ship, a vessel of a third of the overall length and much less cargo capacity. The double layer of planking also contributes additional hull strength, as do the internal stringers. This contrasts with the structural design concepts of carvel construction, which saw a slow and complex development in the first millennium AD. Carvel relies largely on the underlying framework of the hull for its strength, whilst ships like the Madrague de Giens vessel had an internal framework that simply provided additional reinforcement.[12]:62-65[13]
The deck or ship superstructure has not survived, although a baulk of timber and its supports as found, fitted carefully onto the lowest frames of the hull.[3] This mast-step timber indicates sockets that correspond to a main mast, a foremast, of a bilge pump well, and of various interior architectural characteristics.[4] Kept at a height of 1.10m above the floor of the hold, this well was 1.5m long by 1.25m wide and consisted of four vertical supporting cross-coated plates.[2]
Cargo
Dressel 1B type amphora Key: 1: rim - 2: neck - 3: handle - 4: shoulder - 5: belly or body - 6: foot
The cargo found amongst the wreck site indicates that the wreck at Madrague de Giens belongs to a large Roman merchant vessel.[4] The ship was capable of carrying anywhere between 5800[3] and 8,000 amphorae,[1] each weighing 50 kilos,[3] a freight of up to 400 tons.[1] Four layers of wine amphorae, stacked in staggered rows, was the typical cargo,[3] but on the final trip, the ship was only holding three layers (6,000-6,500 amphorae) reaching 3m high.[8] Dressel Type 1B, 1.16m (3ft 10in)] high, amphorae with narrow pointed bodies and long cylindrical necks made by the potter Publius Veveius Papus made up the majority of the wine amphorae.[3] Potter's stamps belonging to Publius Veveius Papus have been found on these amphorae indicating that they were an export from Terracina, a wine-producing area in Southern Italy,[3] where he is known to have had a workshop.[1] Various other types of amphorae were found, which may have been for on board consumption or alternatively may have been additional cargo.[8]
The ship of Madrague de Giens was only carrying three layers of amphorae due to the fact that it was also carrying a large load of ceramics, which was placed on top of the amphorae.[4] This extra cargo contained black-glazed ceramics (Campanian)[8] and coarser kitchen wares.[3] The presence of kitchen wares, table wares, and other various objects indicated the cabin area near the stern of the ship.[8]
The Mary Rose was a carrack in the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She was launched in 1511 and served for 34 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 19 July 1545. She led the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, but sank in the Solent, the strait north of the Isle of Wight.
Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains, be they vessels, shore-side facilities, port-related structures, cargoes, human remains and submerged landscapes. A specialty within maritime archaeology is nautical archaeology, which studies ship construction and use.
The Newport Ship is a mid-fifteenth-century sailing vessel discovered when archaeologists investigated an articulated timber structure uncovered during the building of the Riverfront Arts Centre in Newport in June 2002. The site is on the west bank of the River Usk, which runs through the city centre. The remains of the ship suffered some damage from the construction work, but still represents a substantial find of a late Medieval ship, together with significant artefacts and environmental material. The official name of the vessel is now the Newport Medieval Ship, to help distinguish it from other historical vessels.
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a watercraft. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. The laying of the keel is often the initial step in the construction of a ship. In the British and American shipbuilding traditions, this event marks the beginning date of a ship's construction.
A cog was a type of ship that was used during the Middle Ages, mostly for trade and transport but also in war. It first appeared in the 10th century, and was widely used from around the 12th century on. Cogs were clinker-built, generally of oak. Cogs were fitted with a single mast and a single square sail. They were used primarily for trade in north-west medieval Europe, especially by the Hanseatic League. Typical seagoing cogs were from 15 to 25 meters long, 5 to 8 meters wide, and were of 30–200 tons burthen. Cogs were rarely as large as 300 tons although a few were considerably larger, over 1,000 tons.
Carvel built or carvel planking is a method of boat building in which hull planks are laid edge to edge and fastened to a robust frame, thereby forming a smooth surface. Traditionally the planks are neither attached to, nor slotted into, each other, having only a caulking sealant between the planks to keep water out. Modern carvel builders may attach the planks to each other with glues and fixings. It is a "frame first" method of hull construction, where the shape is determined by the framework onto which the planks are fixed. This is in contrast to "plank first" or "shell first" methods, where the outer skin of the hull is made and then reinforced by the insertion of timbers that are fitted to that shape. The most common modern "plank first" method is clinker construction; in the classical period "plank first" involved joining the edges of planks with mortise and tenon joints within the thickness of the timbers, superficially giving the smooth-hull appearance of carvel construction, but achieved by entirely different means.
Clinker-built is a method of boat building in which the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank.
The Kyrenia Ship is the wreck of a 4th-century BC ancient Greek merchant ship. It was discovered by Greek-Cypriot diving instructor Andreas Cariolou in November 1965 during a storm. Having lost the exact position, Cariolou carried out more than 200 dives until he re-discovered the wreck in 1967 close to Kyrenia (Keryneia) in Cyprus. Michael Katzev, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, directed a scientific excavation from 1967 to 1969. Katzev later became a co-founder of the American Institute of Nautical Archaeology. The find was extensively covered in a documentary by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation titled "With Captain, Sailors Three: The Ancient Ship of Kyrenia". The ship itself was very well preserved with more than half its hull timbers in good condition. After it was raised from the seabed, it found a new home at the Ancient Shipwreck Museum in Kyrenia Castle, where it remains on exhibit.
The Antikythera wreck is a Roman-era shipwreck dating from the second quarter of the first century BC.
Mensun Bound is a British maritime archaeologist born in Stanley, Falkland Islands. He is best known as director of exploration for two expeditions to the Weddell Sea which led to the rediscovery of the Endurance, in which Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The ship sank after being crushed by the ice on 21 November 1915. It was rediscovered by the Endurance22 expedition on 5 March 2022.
A dolium is a large earthenware vase or vessel used in ancient Roman times for storage or transportation of goods. They are similar to kvevri, large Georgian vessels used to ferment wine.
The Blackfriars shipwrecks were a series of wrecks discovered by archaeologist Peter Marsden in the Blackfriars area of the banks of the River Thames in London, England. The wrecks were discovered while building a riverside embankment wall along the River Thames. Marsden discovered the first on 6 September 1962 and the next two were discovered in 1970. A later discovery added to the previous three wrecks, constituting now what is known as the four Blackfriars wrecks.
The term lambo or lamba refer to two types of traditional boats from Indonesia.
Ancient Black Sea shipwrecks found in the Black Sea date to Antiquity. In 1976, Willard Bascom suggested that the deep, anoxic waters of the Black Sea might have preserved ships from antiquity because typical wood-devouring organisms could not survive there. At a depth of 150m, the Black Sea contains insufficient oxygen to support most familiar biological life forms.
A hulk was a type of medieval ship used mostly for transports. The hulk appears to have remained a relatively minor type of sailing ship apparently peculiar to the Low Countries of Europe where it was probably used primarily as a river or canal boat, with limited potential for coastal cruising. The only evidence of hulks is from legal documents and iconography, though it is possible that a shipwreck found on the coast of Estonia in early 2022 might be the only known surviving example of a hulk.
The Ma'agan Michael Ship is a well-preserved 5th-century BCE boat discovered off the coast of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, Israel, in 1985. The ship was excavated and its timber immersed in preservation tanks at the University of Haifa, undergoing a seven-year process of impregnation by heated polyethylene glycol (PEG). In March 1999, the boat was reassembled and transferred to a dedicated wing built at the Hecht Museum, on the grounds of the university. The boat has provided researchers with insights into ancient methods of shipbuilding and the evolution of anchors.
The Sparrow-Hawk was a 'small pinnace' similar to the full-rigged pinnace Virginia that sailed for the English Colonies in June 1626. She is the earliest ship to participate in the first decades of English settlement in the New World to have survived to the present day.
Janggolan refers to two different type of perahu from Indonesia. One is from Madura, and the other from Bali. The Madurese janggolan is a type of indigenously constructed boat, meanwhile Balinese janggolan is an indigenous boat with western-styled hull construction.
Ancient Rome had a variety of ships that played crucial roles in its military, trade, and transportation activities. Rome was preceded in the use of the sea by other ancient, seafaring civilizations of the Mediterranean. The galley was a long, narrow, highly maneuverable ship powered by oarsmen, sometimes stacked in multiple levels such as biremes or triremes, and many of which also had sails. Initial efforts of the Romans to construct a war fleet were based on copies of Carthaginian warships. In the Punic wars in the mid-third century BCE, the Romans were at first outclassed by Carthage at sea, but by 256 BCE had drawn even and fought the wars to a stalemate. In 55 BCE Julius Caesar used warships and transport ships to invade Britain. Numerous types of transport ships were used to carry foodstuffs or other trade goods around the Mediterranean, many of which did double duty and were pressed into service as warships or troop transports in time of war.
The eruption of Mount Pelée on May 8, 1902 generated a pyroclastic flows, also known as nuées ardentes cloud famous for having destroyed in a few minutes the town of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, at the time the administrative and economic capital of Martinique.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pomey, Patrice (1982). "Le Navire Romain de la Madrague de Giens". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 126 (1): 133–154.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Green, Kevin (1986). The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp.25–27.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pomey, Patrice (2011). "Chapter 1: Defining a Ship: architecture, function, and human space". In Catsambis, Alexis; Ford, Ben; Hamilton, Donny (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p.40.
1 2 3 Muckelroy, Keith (1978). Maritime Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.64–75.
1 2 Whitewright, Julian (March 2011). "The Potential Performance of Ancient Mediterranean Sailing Rigs: THE POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE OF ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN SAILING RIGS". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 40 (1): 2–17. doi:10.1111/j.1095-9270.2010.00276.x.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tchernia, André; P. Pomey; A. Hesnard (1978). L'épave romaine de la Madrague de Giens, Var: campagnes 1972-1975 (XXXIV supplément à Galliaed.). Paris: Centre national de la recherche scientifique.
↑ Carlson, Deborah (2011). "Chapter 17: The Seafarers and Shipwrecks of Ancient Greece and Rome". In Catsambis, Alexis; Ford, Ben; Hamilton, Donny (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p.389.
1 2 Steffy, J. Richard (1994). Wooden ship building and the interpretations of shipwrecks (5th printinged.). College Station: Texas A & M University Press. ISBN9781603445207.
↑ Pomey, Patrice; Kahanov, Yaacov; Rieth, Eric (September 2012). "Transition from Shell to Skeleton in Ancient Mediterranean Ship-Construction: analysis, problems, and future research: TRANSITION FROM SHELL TO SKELETON IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 41 (2): 235–314. doi:10.1111/j.1095-9270.2012.00357.x.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
