Roman Wreck Research Articles

There is No Secure Evidence of a Roman Wreck at the Needles, England

There is No Secure Evidence of a Roman Wreck at the Needles, England

Observations on Roman Pottery from Pudding Pan and the Thames Estuary and Early Surveys

AbstractPreviously unpublished Roman pottery from the Thames Estuary was studied by the author in 1985 and 1986 for the voluntary body Marine Archaeological Surveys (MAS) and is presented as a contribution to wider initiatives on the Roman archaeology of this important social and economic artery between South-East England and the wider world. The purpose of this paper is to complement the ongoing review by Michael Walsh of Roman wrecks in UK waters (a research partnership between Southampton University and the British Museum) and that of the ‘Pudding Pan’ assemblage, much of which is in private collections.

The ISCR Project ‘Restoring Underwater’: An Evaluation of the Results After Ten Years

The project ‘Restoring Underwater’ launched and conducted by the Underwater Archaeology Operations Unit of the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR, Rome, Italy) is aimed at the study and the experimentation of instruments, materials, methodologies, and techniques for the restoration, conservation, and in situ display of ancient submerged artefacts. The project commenced in 2001 with the restoration of the vivaria of the Roman villa of Torre Astura (Nettuno, Rome), since 2003 the main subject of researches has been the submerged archaeological site of Baiae (Naples, Italy), where, over the years, the restoration of sectors of certain buildings in the protected marine area has been carried out: the Villa con ingresso a Protiro, the Villa dei Pisoni, the Via Herculanea, and the Building with porticoed courtyard near Portus Iulius. In 2007, in 2009, and in 2010 three new archaeological targets have been added to the research: a group of nine cast iron cannons discovered offshore the coast of the Marettimo Island (Sicily, Italy), the Roman wreck carrying a load of sarcophagi discovered off the coast of San Pietro in Bevagna (Taranto, Italy), and the traditional fishing boat recently discovered off the cost of Martana Island (Bolsena Lake, Italy).The purpose of this paper is to sum up the work in progress and the results of these ten years of the project. The paper will shows as the conservation and museum display in situ of underwater heritage must not just be considered an opportune choice but may in itself provide a strong stimulus for experimenting new materials and technologies as well as representing a factor in the socio-economic development of the communities concerned, as shown by the example of Baiae.

A Presumed Hydraulic Apparatus for the Transport of Live Fish, Found on the Roman Wreck at Grado, Italy

The Roman wreck found off Grado, not far from the city of Aquileia in the north Adriatic Sea, was recovered in 1999. The ship carried various kinds of amphoras with processed fish. A lead pipe, inserted in the hull near the keel, is curious evidence which the authors try to explain. The pipe could be connected to a piston-pump to suck water. A theoretical reconstruction demonstrates how this apparatus could work and that it could be used to feed a tank to allow trading in live fish over a long distance. © 2011 The Authors

Lingots de plomb et barres de fer des épaves romaines des Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône, France) : Questions de traçabilité comparée

Ferrous and non-ferrous metal provenance studies are always handled in disconnected ways. In spite of two clearly different metallurgies, there are nevertheless some methodological and analytical similarities. It is precisely through the study of two types of metallic materials, lead and iron produced and commercialized during Antiquity, that certain aspects of the tracing will be discussed and compared between ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Through the research of the origin of lead ingots and iron bars of the Roman wrecks of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, we shall deal with the importance of the geologic knowledge of ores sources, the notions of heritage, partition and pollution of chemical elements through the metallurgical chaîne opératoire, but also with possible convergences of some analytical developments.

Reply to a Comment on an Article Concerning the Hydraulic System of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy

International Journal of Nautical ArchaeologyVolume 37, Issue 2 p. 390-392 Reply to a Comment on an Article Concerning the Hydraulic System of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy Carlo Beltrame, Carlo Beltrame Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Vicino Oriente, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venezia, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorDario Gaddi, Dario Gaddi Via Trapani, 12, 33100 Udine, ItalySearch for more papers by this author Carlo Beltrame, Carlo Beltrame Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Vicino Oriente, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venezia, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorDario Gaddi, Dario Gaddi Via Trapani, 12, 33100 Udine, ItalySearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 August 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.2008.00196.xCitations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume37, Issue2September 2008Pages 390-392 RelatedInformation

Comment on a Recent Article Concerning the Hydraulic System of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy

International Journal of Nautical ArchaeologyVolume 36, Issue 2 p. 415-417 Comment on a Recent Article Concerning the Hydraulic System of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy John Peter Oleson, John Peter Oleson Greek and Roman Studies, Box 3045, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada V8W 3P4Search for more papers by this authorRichard Stein, Richard Stein Department of Archaeology, The University of Reading, PO Box 217, Reading RG6 6AH, UKSearch for more papers by this author John Peter Oleson, John Peter Oleson Greek and Roman Studies, Box 3045, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada V8W 3P4Search for more papers by this authorRichard Stein, Richard Stein Department of Archaeology, The University of Reading, PO Box 217, Reading RG6 6AH, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 August 2007 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.2007.00155.xCitations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume36, Issue2September 2007Pages 415-417 RelatedInformation

Two Late Roman Wrecks from Southern Cyprus

Two scattered Late Roman shipwrecks were discovered in the course of underwater survey at Cape Zevgari and Avdimou Bay off the southern coast of Cyprus. Each was transporting a primary cargo contained in amphoras, in one case either local or from nearby Syria or Cilicia, and the other certainly from the southern Levantine coast. The two wrecks offer insight into regional maritime exchange networks within the socio-economic context of late antique commerce around the island. Both sites also contribute to a greater understanding of the utility of systematic shallow-water survey to shipwreck archaeology. © 2007 The Author

Preliminary Analysis of the Hull of the Roman Ship from Grado, Gorizia, Italy

The hull of the Roman wreck at Grado has been partially preserved under the cargo of amphoras. The right side presents a rare evidence of a section of the waterway. The ship has been assembled by mortise-and-tenon technique following a shell-first conception. All the frames, except one, are of pine while planking is either of pine and elm. Some strakes, of larix, are a repair made by patch-tenons; a wale shows an other kind of repair. Various signs left by the shipwright are on the hull. In the stern area, a box of wooden elements had to protect a ‘hydraulic system’. © 2006 The Authors

The Rigging and the ‘Hydraulic System’ of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy

The hull of the Roman wreck at Grado has been preserved under the cargo of amphoras. On the site, a lot of wooden elements of the rigging are preserved, including deadeyes, blocks, and toggles. Three possible bitts were identified, one of them sculpted; two were nailed to the hull while one was loose. Near the keel a lead tube, protected by a wooden box, has been interpreted as a bilge-pump but more probably it was a suction-pump. The tube would have been connected to a piston pump which has not survived. Possible explanations for its use are presented. © 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society

A terracotta phallus from Pisa Ship E: more evidence for the Priapus deity as protector of Greek and Roman navigators

Although the ithyphallic deity Priapus was most generally viewed by the Greeks and Romans as a garden fertility god, there is archaeological and textual evidence that those engaged in maritime activity, especially sea-borne trade, also conceived him as a protective deity. The recent discovery of a terracotta phallus in the remains of Pisa Ship E suggests that apotropaic Priapic icons were carried aboard ancient vessels. This finding, along with two related precedents, allows for a new interpretation with regard to the presence of phallic iconography in the assemblages of Greek and Roman wrecks.

A terracotta phallus from Pisa Ship E: more evidence for the Priapus deity as protector of Greek and Roman navigators

Although the ithyphallic deity Priapus was most generally viewed by the Greeks and Romans as a garden fertility god, there is archaeological and textual evidence that those engaged in maritime activity, especially sea-borne trade, also conceived him as a protective deity. The recent discovery of a terracotta phallus in the remains of Pisa Ship E suggests that apotropaic Priapic icons were carried aboard ancient vessels. This finding, along with two related precedents, allows for a new interpretation with regard to the presence of phallic iconography in the assemblages of Greek and Roman wrecks.

La charpenterie navale romaine: Matériaux, méthodes, moyens. By Michel Rival.

Discusses how the nature and procurement of timber affected Roman ship carpentry and construction, and demonstrates that Roman shipwrights could exploit fully the morphological and physical attributes of the woods available to them. The author bases his arguments in part on the identification of wood samples taken from the hull remains of 19 Greco-Roman ships dating from the 4th century BCE through the 7th century CE, and on his detailed study of timber usage and carpentry on three well-preserved Roman wrecks. Chapter 1 discusses the wood species identified from the 19 wrecks; chapter 2 discusses the traditional means of acquiring useful timber. The remaining chapters are devoted to an examination of the hull remains of the shipwrecks at la Madrague de Giens, la Place de la Bourse in Marseilles, and Wreck I at Port-Vendres. A brief conclusion is followed by a bibliography, an index of ancient authors, and a glossary.

The Roman wreck ofc. AD 200 at Plemmirio, near Siracusa (Sicily): third interim report: The domestic assemblage 2: kitchen and table pottery, glass, and fishing weights

The Roman wreck of<i>c</i>. AD 200 at Plemmirio, near Siracusa (Sicily): third interim report: The domestic assemblage 2: kitchen and table pottery, glass, and fishing weights

Classical Antiquity: the maritime dimension

IntroductionShips and the sea were an omnipresent theme of Greek and Roman art and life. Shipwreck was a well-recognized risk, and an essential ingredient of ‘lost and found’ stories in novels and comedies. Conversely, safe arrival in harbour, the successful end of a journey, was a frequent motif, especially of Roman art. These ideas were obviously underpinned by economic facts: the need for metals, the sea-girt nature of Greece, Rome’s central position in the Mediterranean, and the constant threat of food shortage in the cities of the Mediterranean world generally, necessarily involved transport and trade by sea.Into this scene has stepped, still less than 50 years old, a new character, namely underwater archaeology. Since 1945, over 1000 ancient and medieval shipwrecks have been reported in the Mediterranean, and the roll continues to grow at an unslackened pace. This rapid increase in archaeological resource has been due, of course, mainly to the widespread use of compressed-air diving gear for sport, so that most of the known wreck sites lie in inshore waters, and in popular diving areas. However, recent developments in offshore position-fixing and in underwater communications and robotics have made it possible to explore much deeper sites; the deepest so far to have been surveyed under archaeological direction (by A.M. McCann) is a late Roman wreck at 800 m deep between Sicily and Sardinia.

The Roman wreck ofc. AD 200 at Plemmirio, near Siracusa (Sicily): second interim report: The domestic assemblage 1: medical equipment and pottery lamps

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].

A Roman wreck with a cargo of marble in the bay of Giardini Naxos (Sicily)

International Journal of Nautical ArchaeologyVolume 17, Issue 2 p. 133-142 A Roman wreck with a cargo of marble in the bay of Giardini Naxos (Sicily) Beatrice Bade, Soprintendenza ai Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Siracusa, Piazza Duomo 14, 96100 Siracusa, ItalySearch for more papers by this author Beatrice Bade, Soprintendenza ai Beni Culturali e Ambientali di Siracusa, Piazza Duomo 14, 96100 Siracusa, ItalySearch for more papers by this author First published: May 1988 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1988.tb00633.xCitations: 3AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume17, Issue2May 1988Pages 133-142 RelatedInformation

Comment on ‘Tubi fittili(vaulting tubes) from the sea-the Roman wreck at Punta del Fenaio, Island of Giglio’ (IJNA, 16:187-200)

Comment on ‘<i>Tubi fittili</i>(vaulting tubes) from the sea-the Roman wreck at Punta del Fenaio, Island of Giglio’ (<i>IJNA</i>, 16:187-200)

Tubi fittili(vaulting tubes) from the sea-The Roman wreck at Punta del Fenaio, Island of Giglio

Les fouilles d'un cargo d'epoque romaine (IIIe-IVe s.) ont revele, outre une cargaison d'amphores d'Afrique du Nord, une grande quantite de tubes en ceramique (tubi fittili) utilises dans la construction des voutes et autres elements d'architecture. Description egalement de ceux trouves a Carthage et dans d'autres sites d'Afrique du Nord et de la Mediterranee. Origine de cette technique et sa distribution geographique. Etude des autres objets retrouves : amphores, clous, plomb de peche

The Roman wreck ofc. AD 200 at Plemmirio, near Siracusa (Sicily): Interim report

A Roman wreck, named Plemmirio B[1]i, lies on the rocky talus below the southern cliffs of Capo Murro di Porco, near Costa Bianca del Plemmirio (Penisola della Maddalena), prov. Siracusa, Sicily. The cargo of amphoras and iron bars, relatively well-preserved, is situated between 22 m and 47 m depth. Following brief examinations in 1974–1982, a University of Bristol expedition spent four weeks surveying the site in July-August 1983[2] This paper presents an interim summary of these campaigns; a comprehensive report will be published after completion of excavations at the site[3]. The archaeological deposit at Plemmirio B is characterized by concentrations of fragmented amphoras. There is no direct evidence for the structure of the ship, much of which may have disintegrated during the initial wreck process, but study of the artefact distribution suggests a vessel of fairly large capacity. The amphora consignment (which may have numbered no more than 200) comprised cylindrical African containers, 80% of which were form Africana 2A and 20% Africana 1[4] w. The Africana 2A amphoras had internal resinous linings, and so may have contained a fish product rather than olive oil. Other amphoras exposed on the site were at least one Mauretanian Dressel 30 (Keay type 1) and two possibly intrusive amphoras of unclassified types. Ferrous concretions contained voids (hollow casts) which may once have been about 39 wrought iron bars, of two distinctive shapes. These, and several other concretions of unidentified forms, may represent a consignment of iron originally weighing approximately one tonne. Other finds from the wreck are two cooking pots, a small bowl or cup, a sounding lead, three fragments of tegula rooftiles, and two small stone blocks. One of the cooking pots confirms a date for the wreck based on the amphora association of circa AD 180–250, most likely in the first decade of the 3rd century. The amphora assemblage belongs to an important phase of commerce from North Africa represented by at least 20 known wreck cargoes; however, few of these sites have been scientifically recorded or are as closely dated as Plemmirio B, and the diversity of container types and cargo consignments on this wreck is of particular interest.