Industrial sector(s) | Woodworking, shipbuilding |
---|---|
Feedstock | Timber |
Product(s) | Watercraft hulls secured with locked mortise and tenon joints |
Inventor | The Phoenicians |
Phoenician joints (Latin : coagmenta punicana) is a locked mortise and tenon wood joinery technique used in shipbuilding to fasten watercraft hulls. The locked (or pegged) mortise and tenon technique consists of cutting a mortise, or socket, into the edges of two planks and fastening them together with a rectangular wooden knob. The assembly is then locked in place by driving a dowel through one or more holes drilled through the mortise side wall and tenon.
The Phoenicians pioneered the use of locked mortise and tenon joints in nautical joinery to secure the underwater planking of seagoing ships. The use of pegged mortises and tenons in shipbuilding spread westward from the Levantine littoral. Examples of the use of Phoenician joints in the ancient Mediterranean include the Uluburun ship, dated c. 1320±50 BC, and the Cape Gelidonya ship dated to c. 1200 BC.
By the first millennium BC, Phoenician joints became a common edge-to-edge fastening method. Ancient Greek and Roman shipbuilders adopted the technique of Phoenician joinery. Roman writers credited the joinery technique to Phoenicians by calling it coagmenta punicana or Punicanis coamentis. The ancient Greek historian Polybius reported that the Romans copied the locked mortise and tenon technique from a Punic warship that ran aground in 264 BC. They exploited this technique to their advantage early in the First Punic War in 260 BC which allowed them to build a fleet of 100 quinqueremes within a period of two months.
One factor contributing to their success was the abundance of cedar forests in their territory. These forests provided them with a steady supply of high-quality timber, a crucial resource for shipbuilding [1] This access to timber enabled the Phoenicians to construct large seafaring vessels capable of carrying hundreds of people. Due to the amount of timber they were producing, logs were brought onto the ship for trade, bringing them to other civilizations in exchange goods such as gold and tin. [2] [ page needed ] These forested mountains, documented by ancient writers such as Homer, Pliny, and Plato, as well as the Old Testament, provided the Phoenicians with a large supply of high-quality cedar wood. Cedar was particularly prized for its strength, durability, and resistance to rot, making it ideal for shipbuilding. [3] [ full citation needed ] These ships, often depicted with rows of oars on either side, facilitated long-distance travel and trade across the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.[ citation needed ]
Phoenician joints postdate the sewn watercraft lacing joinery technique. [5] Archaeological finds have revealed transitional watercrafts integrating elements from both mortise and tenon, and other joinery techniques. [6]
Chinese Neolithic societies used the locked mortise and tenon method, but did not use a separate rectangular tenon nor edge-to-edge plank joining. [7]
The locked mortise and tenon method occurs as of c. 3000 BC in non-nautical Ancient Egyptian joinery, but not in hull-planking, which only featured unlocked mortises. [8]
In the third and early second millennium BC, the Ancient Egyptians employed a similar technique, however, the mortise and tenon joints were not locked in place using pegs. [9] [10] [11] To ensure ship hull stability, the Egyptians used their unlocked fastening technique together with other methods of wood fastening. An example of this technique is the Fourth Dynasty Khufu funerary ship (c. 2600 BC), an intact 43.6 meters (143 ft) long Lebanon cedar lashed-lug vessel, that was unearthed in the Giza pyramid complex. The barque's cedar planks were joined together using unlocked mortise and tenon, and two types of lashings between bordering strakes and, from sheer to sheer. [12] [13] [14] [10] The mixed use of unlocked mortise and tenon with wood lashing is also attested in later ancient Egyptian ships from Lisht (c. 1950 BC) and Dashur (c. 1859 BC). [15] The use of pegged mortise and tenon shipbuilding in Egypt is not supported by material evidence before around 500 BC. [16]
The Phoenicians pioneered the use of locked mortise and tenon joints in nautical joinery to secure the underwater planking of seagoing ships. [17] [18] [19] The use of pegged mortises and tenons in shipbuilding spread westward from the Levantine littoral. [5] According to McGrail, this joinery method could have given rise to the Phoenicians' reputation for seafaring excellence. [17] The hull of the Uluburun ship, an early Phoenician/Canaanite vessel dated c. 1320±50 BC, [20] [21] [22] [23] is the earliest evidence of pegged Phoenician joints used in Mediterranean shipbuilding. [14] [24] The ship's hull was built with Lebanese cedar, with oak tenons. [25] [lower-alpha 1] Additional early evidence of Phoenician joint usage comes from another Canaanite shipwreck in Cape Gelidonya in Turkey dated c. 1200±50 BC. [28] [29] [30] The Uluburun and Gelidonya ships allowed scholars to date back the Phoenicians' maritime activity to an earlier period when it was thought that Canaanite seafaring did not start before the first millennium BC, and that maritime trade in the Eastern Mediterranean was solely conducted by Mycenaeans. [31] [5]
By the first millennium BC, Phoenician joints became a common edge-to-edge fastening method in the ancient Mediterranean. [5] Greek shipbuilders abruptly abandoned the laced wood technique and adopted the Phoenician joinery. [32] [19] Scholars posit that Greek shipbuilders acquired the mortise and tenon joinery technique from the Phoenicians. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [19] [18] Phoenician influence on Greek shipbuilding technology resulted from contact between the two people during the Phoenicians' westward colonization. [19]
By the middle of the first millennium BC shipbuilders developed deeper understanding and expertise in the locked mortise and tenon joints as evidenced in the fourth century BC Kyrenia shipwreck and the third century BC wreckage of the Marsala Punic warship. [17]
While the Phoenicians primarily focused on trade throughout the Mediterranean Sea, they did become involved in military conflicts throughout their history. Phoenician fleets participated in some of the most well-known battles of antiquity. [39] These engagements included both direct conflicts involving Phoenicia itself and those involving Carthage, its most prominent colony, located on modern day Tunisia, most notably during the Punic Wars.
During the First Punic War in 264 BC, the Romans seized a Phoenician penteres that ran aground. Prior to the war, the Romans had zero[ dubious ] ships and were at a disadvantage, until they found one of the Phoenician ships ashore.[ citation needed ]
Polybius reports that the ship served as a model for the Romans' fleet ships; they realized the advantage of using Phoenician joints in shipbuilding, as the lumber used in edge-joined ship strakes does not have to be dried. [40] Early in the First Punic War in 260 BC, the Phoenician joint technique allowed the Romans to build a fleet of 100 quinqueremes within a period of two months. [40] Later, going on to win the Punic War after creating hundreds of replica ships to fight with.
The technique is also seen in Vietnam. Excavation carried out in waterlogged burials in Dong Xa in Vietnam revealed the adoption of a variety of the locked mortise and tenon technique in the construction of a logboat. The boat dates back to the Dong Son culture in the late Vietnamese prehistory (500 BC to AD 200). [41]
The locked (or pegged) mortise and tenon technique consists of cutting a mortise, or socket, into the faces of two planks to be fastened together. A piece of wood called a tenon, usually taking the form of a rectangle, is inserted into each mortise to join the two planks together. The assembly is locked by driving a peg (or dowel pin or treenail) through one or more holes drilled through the mortise side wall and tenon. This technique is known as Phoenician joint when applied to shipbuilding. [5] [42]
The origin of the term Phoenician joinery comes from the Latin, since Roman writers credited the joinery technique to Phoenicians by calling it coagmenta punicana or Punicanis coamentis. [43] [44] The Latin term is known through the extant writings such as that of Cato the Elder. In his treatise on agriculture, De agri cultura , [lower-alpha 2] Cato describes the construction of a wooden disk used in oil presses using locked mortise and tenon joinery; he refers to the technique as Punicanis coamentis, thereby crediting Rome's enemies. [45] [43] [46]
Punicanis means Punic and derives from the Latin poenus and punicus , which were used mostly to refer to the Carthaginians and other western Phoenicians. These terms derived from the Ancient Greek word Φοῖνιξ ("Phoinix"), plural form Φοίνικες ("Phoinikes"), an exonym used indiscriminately to refer to both western and eastern Phoenicians. [47]
Coamentis translates to the English "coagment" meaning to join together or unite. [43]
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.
A mortiseand tenon joint connects two pieces of wood or other material. Woodworkers around the world have used it for thousands of years to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at right angles.
The First Dynasty of ancient Egypt covers the first series of Egyptian kings to rule over a unified Egypt. It immediately follows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, possibly by Narmer, and marks the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, when power was centered at Thinis.
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.
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same overall category of sail.
The Uluburun Shipwreck is a Late Bronze Age shipwreck dated to the late 14th century BC, discovered close to the east shore of Uluburun, Turkey, in the Mediterranean Sea. The shipwreck was discovered in the summer of 1982 by Mehmed Çakir, a local sponge diver from Yalıkavak, a village near Bodrum.
A treenail, also trenail, trennel, or trunnel, is a wooden peg, pin, or dowel used to fasten pieces of wood together, especially in timber frames, covered bridges, wooden shipbuilding and boat building. It is driven into a hole bored through two pieces of structural wood.
A naval ram is a weapon fitted to varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon comprised an underwater prolongation of the bow of the ship to form an armoured beak, usually between 2 and 4 meters (6–12 ft) in length. This would be driven into the hull of an enemy ship to puncture, sink or disable it.
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Ancient Carthage was an ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, Carthage reached its height in the fourth century BC as one of the largest metropoleis in the world. It was the centre of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power led by the Punic people who dominated the ancient western and central Mediterranean Sea. Following the Punic Wars, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, who later rebuilt the city lavishly.
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The culture of the ancient Phoenicians was one of the first to have had a significant effect on the history of wine. Phoenicia was a civilization centered in current day Lebanon. Between 1550 BC and 300 BC, the Phoenicians developed a maritime trading culture that expanded their influence from the Levant to North Africa, the Greek Isles, Sicily, and the Iberian Peninsula. Through contact and trade, they spread not only their alphabet but also their knowledge of viticulture and winemaking, including the propagation of several ancestral varieties of the Vitis vinifera species of wine grapes.
The Abydos boats are the remnants of a group of ancient royal Egyptian ceremonial boats found at an archaeological site in Abydos, Egypt. Discovered in 1991, excavation of the Abydos boats began in 2000 at which time fourteen boats were identified. They are located alongside the massive mudbrick structure known as Shunet El Zebib, attributed to the 2nd Dynasty Pharaoh Khasekhemwy. Shunet El Zebib is one of several such "enclosure wall" constructions at this site dating back to the 1st Dynasty, and is located nearly one mile from the early dynastic royal cemetery of Umm El Qa'ab.
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.
Honor Frost was a pioneer in the field of underwater archaeology, who led many Mediterranean archaeological investigations, especially in Lebanon, and was noted for her typology of stone anchors and skills in archaeological illustration.
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". The wreck lies at around 18 to 20 metres depth 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. 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", making it one of the largest Roman wrecks excavated, with only the wreck at Albenga, Italy exceeding it at the time of its discovery. The vessel wrecked at Madrague de Giens measured around 40 metres in length; has a "wine glass" section which would have given better ability to sail to windward; displayed extended raking of the stem and stern; and had two masts. 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". The ship sank while transporting a large cargo of wine and black glazed pottery from Italy. It is not known why it sank.
Lashed-lug boats are ancient boat-building techniques of the Austronesian peoples. It is characterized by the use of raised lugs on the inner face of hull planks. These lugs have holes drilled in them so that other hull components such as ribs, thwarts or other structural components can be tied to them with natural fiber ropes. This allows a structure to be put together without any metal fastenings. The planks are further stitched together edge-to-edge by sewing or using dowels ("treenails") unto a dugout keel and the solid carved wood pieces that form the caps for the prow and stern. Characteristically, the shell of the boat is created first, prior to being lashed unto ribs. The seams between planks are also sealed with absorbent tapa bark and fiber that expands when wet or caulked with resin-based preparations.
The Marsala Punic shipwreck is a third-century-BC shipwreck of two Punic ships. The wreck was discovered in 1969, off the shore of Isola Lunga, not far from Marsala on the western coast of Sicily. It was excavated from 1971 onwards. The excavation, led by Honor Frost and her team, lasted four years and revealed a substantial portion of the hull structure.
The Bajo de la Campana Phoenician shipwreck is a seventh-century-BC shipwreck of a Phoenician trade ship found at Bajo de la Campana, a submerged rock reef near Cartagena, Spain. This shipwreck was accidentally discovered in the 1950s. It is the earliest Phoenician shipwreck to date to undergo an archaeological excavation. Over the course of four field seasons, researchers conducted almost 4,000 dives and over 300 hours of exploration. The sunken ship spilled its cargo in and around an underwater cave at the edge of the Bajo reef. Among the artifacts recovered were fragments of the ship's hull, along with terracotta vessels, including amphoras, bowls, and plates. Among the cargo were elephant ivory tusks, indicating Phoenician trade connections with regions where elephants were native. Additionally, the discovery of tin ingots, copper ingots, and galena nuggets suggests the ship's involvement in long-distance trade networks. The cargo contained also pine cones, double-sided wooden combs, amber nodules from the Baltic, and various raw materials such as timber, and resin. Provisions and personal items of the crew were also recovered from the wreck, such as a gaming piece, a whetstone with Phoenician graffiti, and nuts and seeds. The Bajo de la Campana shipwreck belonged to Phoenician traders from the Eastern Mediterranean.
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