‘The Ghost Ship’. An Intact Fluyt from c.1650 in the Middle of the Baltic Sea

We report an exceptionally well preserved 17th‐century shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. The investigation of the intact 3‐dimensional hull at 130 m depth in the cold dark water has demanded new methods of documentation. Field investigation of ‘The Ghost Ship’ has been done in co‐operation with a nautical survey company, combining archaeological skills with advanced technology and filming for a television documentary. The discovery offers detailed knowledge about Dutch shipbuilding and the construction of fluyts. We also believe that study of the social organisation aboard this small trading ship can give insights into the mentality and ideology of the period. © 2012 The Authors     

Gender,Slavery and the Making of New World Identities

Books reviewed in this article: David Barry Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine (eds), More Than Chattel: Black Women and Slavery in the Americas Maggie Montesinos Sale, The Slumbering Volcano: American Slave Ship Revolts and the Production of Rebellious Masculinity     

Molecular history of tuberculosis from ancient mummies and skeletons

The origin and evolution of the infectious disease tuberculosis (TB) and its pathogens is still not fully understood. An important effort for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of TB evolution lies within the investigation of skeletal and mummified material dating back several thousand of years. In this work, molecular data from mummified and skeletal material from different time periods of the Old World are compared, and the current status of ancient mycobacterial DNA analysis in ancient human remains is discussed, with particular reference to the genetic evolution of human TB. The molecular analysis of material from southern Germany (1400–1800 AD), Hungary (600–1700 AD) and Egypt (3500–500 BC) revealed high frequencies of TB in all time periods. In several individuals from ancient Egypt the mycobacterial DNA could be further characterised by spoligotyping. Thereby, evidence for ancestral M. tuberculosis strains was found in the pre‐ to early dynastic material from Abydos (3500–2650 BC), while typical M. africanum signatures were detected in the Middle Kingdom tomb in Thebes‐West (2050–1650 BC). Samples from the New Kingdom to Late Period tombs (1500–500 BC) were characterised as modern M. tuberculosis strains. In concordance with other studies on ancient skeletal and mummified samples, no evidence for the presence of M. bovis was found. These results contradict the theory that M. tuberculosis evolved from M. bovis during domestication, but supports the new scenario that M. tuberculosis probably derived from an ancestral progenitor strain. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vegetation,land, and wood use at the sites of Bat and Al‐Khashbah in Oman (fourth–third millennium BC)

About 4200 charcoal fragments have been identified from the fourth‐ to third‐millennium BC archaeological sites of Bat and Al‐Khashbah in order to gain an understanding of plant resources available at the sites. Acacia sp., Ziziphus sp., and Tamarix sp. were the main taxa identified at both sites and indicate a similar vegetation composition as today. Phoenix sp. (date palm) charcoal also has been found at both sites. Whereas the cultivation of date palm for the 2700–2300 BC layers from Bat was likely, given other circumstantial evidence (i.e. local cereal cultivation and floodwater irrigation), it is unclear whether date palm was cultivated at Al‐Khashbah. Especially for the older periods (3300–2700 BC) it is possible that nomadic pastoralists were exploiting and/or managing wild date palms. The find of Avicennia marina at Al‐Khashbah indicates long‐distance contacts with the coast.     

Reviews

Books reviewed: G. F. BASS, S. D. MATTHEWS, J. R. STEFFY, and F. H. VAN DOORNINCK Jr, Serçe Liman?: an Eleventh‐Century Shipwreck. Volume I: The Ship and its Anchorage, Crew, and Passengers YAACOV KAHANOV and ELISHA LINDER, The Ma’agan Mikhael Ship. The Recovery of a 2400‐Year‐Old Merchantman. Final Report Volume II HORST NOWACKI, Archimedes and Ship Stability HORST NOWACKI and LARRIE D. FERREIRO, Historical Roots of the Theory of Hydrostatic Stability of Ships SIMON HILLSON, Teeth VICKI CUMMINGS and CHRIS FOWLER (eds), The Neolithic of the Irish Sea: Materiality and Traditions of Practice JOHAN HENRIK SCHREINER, Two Battles and Two Bills: Marathon and the Athenian Fleet ALEC TILLEY, Seafaring on the Ancient Mediterranean: New Thoughts on Triremes and Other Ancient Ships DAVID J. P. MASON, Roman Britain and the Roman Navy R. A. HOUSLEY and G. COLES (eds), Atlantic Connections and Adaptations. Economies, Environments and Subsistence in Lands Bordering the North Atlantic JOHAN RÖNNBY (ed.), By the Water: Archaeological Perspectives on Human Strategies around the Baltic Sea ANGELO FORTE, RICHARD ORAM, and FREDERIK PEDERSEN, Viking Empires JOHN HINES, ALAN LANE and MARK REDKNAP (eds), Land Sea and Home: Proceedings of a Conference on Viking Period Settlement BENJAMIN HUDSON, Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic GREGORY G. MONKS (ed.), The Exploitation and Cultural Importance of Sea Mammals UWE SCHALL, URSULA FELDKAMP, ERIK HOOPS, Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv No. 26 (2003) PATRICE POMEY and ÉRIC RIETH, L’Archéologie Navale FRANCISCO CONTENTE DOMINGUES, Os Navios do Mar Oceano. Teoria e Empiria na Arquitectura Naval Portuguesa dos séculos XVI e XVII FILIPE VIEIRA de CASTRO, The Pepper Wreck: a Portuguese Indiaman at the Mouth of the Tagus River ALEX HILDRED (ed.), Report on the Excavation of the Dutch East Indiaman Vliegent Hart JOHN ROBSON, The Captain Cook Encyclopaedia MYRA STANBURY and JEREMY GREEN (eds), Lapérouse and the Loss of the Astrolabe and the Boussole (1788): Reports of the 1986 and 1990 Investigations of the Shipwrecks at Vanikoro, Solomon Islands MICHEL DAEFFLER, Formes de Carène et Navires de Combat: L’invention du Vaisseau de Ligne en Angleterre (1560–1642) NICHOLAS BLAKE, Steering to Glory: a Day in the Life of a Ship of the Line SPENCER TUCKER, Stephen Decatur—‘A Life Bold and Daring’ SARAH C. WOLFE, Naval Edged Weapons in the Age of Fighting Sail 1775–1865 RICHARD TUFFIN, GREG JACKMAN and JULIA CLARK (eds), A Harbour Large Enough to Admit a Whole Fleet: The Maritime History and Archaeology of Port Arthur ALASTAIR R. WALKER, Stroma Yoles: their construction and development JANE DOWNES and ANNE RITCHIE, Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age AD 300–600 MARINELLA PASQUINUCCI and TIMM WESKI, Close Encounters: Sea‐ and Riverborne Trade, Ports and Hinterlands, Ship Construction and Navigation in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and in Modern Time KLAUS BRAND and HANS JOACHIM KÜHN, Der Prahm aus dem Hafen von Haithabu. Beiträge zu Antiken und Mittelalterlichen Flachbodenschiffen JAMES DODDS and JAMES MOORE, Building the Wooden Fighting Ship     

El Castell de Falgars (Beuda,la Garrotxa): a Roman Republican watchtower in north-east Hispania Citerior

Abstract

El Castell de Falgars (Beuda, la Garrotxa) is a circular watchtower built in the late Republic, during the Romanization of Hispania, which controls a wide territory of the current Province of Girona (Catalonia). The present paper analyses the causes that led to its construction, as well as the reasons for its rapid abandonment before the end of the first century BC. It also describes the phases of reoccupation of the building during the second half of the third century AD and in the Middle Ages, detected through archaeological excavations carried out at the site between 2010 and 2012.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: The Skuldelev Ships I: Topography, Archaeology, History, Conservation and Display (Ships and Boats of the North: 4.1), OLE CRUMLIN‐PEDERSEN, OLAF OLSEN (Eds) III‐starred Captains—Flinders and Baudin, ANTHONY J. BROWN Facing the Ocean. The Atlantic and its Peoples, 8000 BC‐AD 1500, BARRY CUNLIFFE Archaeology and Seafaring: the Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period (ICHR Monograph 1), HAMINSHU PRABHA RAY The Sea in Antiquity (BAR International Series 899), G. J. OLIVER, R. BROCK, T. J. CORNELL, S. HODKINSON (Eds) Lost Warships: an archaeological tour of war at sea, JAMES P. DELGADO ‘A ship cast away about Alderney’—Investigation of an Elizabethan shipwreck, JASON MONAGHAN and, MENSUN BOUND (Eds) Archeologisch onderzoek in het tracé van Willemsspoortunnel te Rotterdam. Sluizen en schepen in de dam van de Rotte (BOO Rbalans 4, 2 vols), M. van TRIERUM, A. CARMIGGELT, A. J. GUIRAN (Eds) Schutz des Kulturerbes unter Wasser (IKUWA conference 1999 proceedings), CHRISTOPHER BÖRKER et al. (Eds) Construzione navale antica, PIER0 DELL'AMICO The Voyages of the Discovery: the illustrated history of Scott's ship, ANN SAVOURS Chicago Maritime: An Illustrated History, DAVID M. YOUNG Deux siècles de constructions et chantiers navals (milieu XVIIe‐milieu XIXe) Proceedings of 124th Congrès des societés historiques et scientifiques, Nantes 1999), CHRISTIANE VILLAIN‐GANDOSSI (Ed.) Submarine Researches by C. A. Deane (1836), MICHAEL FARDELL & NIGEL PHILLIPS (Eds.), JOHN BEVAN Naval Guns: 500 years of Ship and Coastal Artillery, HANS MEHL Lords of the East—the East India Company and its ships 1600–1874, JEAN SUTTON CSS Alabama: Anatomy of a Confederate raider, ANDREW BOWCOCK The extraordinary voyage of Pytheas the Greek, BARRY CUNLIFFE Trincomalee— the last of Nelson's frigates, ANDREW LAMBERT Galleons and Galleys (Cassel's History of Warfare Series), JOHN F. GUIIMARTIN Jr.     

NEW ARCHAEOINTENSITY RESULTS FROM GREEK MATERIALS*

This paper reports palaeointensity results from Greek materials from EC and AD periods, recently obtained in the Sofia palaeomagnetic laboratory. The classical Thellier method was applied and of 26 specimens studied 20 gave acceptable results. The paper aims to compare the newly obtained results with previously published ones from Greece and neighbouring territories relating to the same period of time. The trend of palaeointensity obtained for the period 2900–1700 BC coincides well with the Bulgarian intensity variation curve, while the younger period, 1900–1200 BC, needs further investigation because of the contradictory results obtained by different authors. It is also established that the bricks from the church of Agios Ioannis are earlier than the date of the building's construction and are reused.     

ANALYSIS OF TILTING AT GOURNIA (CRETE) BY THE REPRESENTATIVE BLOCK METHOD: A GEOLOGICAL—ARCHAEOLOGICAL TECHNIQUE TO ANALYSE HISTORICAL TILTING*

The walls and floors of the Minoan settlement of Gournia (Crete) have retained a perpendicular relationship since their construction between 3650 and 2025 BC. Their present orientation indicates that they were tilted in unison in an east-south-east direction. This was established by the reconstruction of a representative block, of which the side planes and the base plane were defined by the present orientation of the wall and floor remnants respectively. Stereographic projection methods, derived from geological practice, were used to determine the geometric elements and the orientation of the representative block.     

A Different Configuration for the Quarter‐Rudders on the Khufu I Vessel (c.2566 BC), and Egyptian Methods of Mounting Quarter‐Rudders and Oars in the 4th and 5th Dynasties

A review of the Khufu I vessel (c.2566 BC) and contemporary Egyptian iconography (c.2613–2345 BC) suggest this vessel was originally fitted with six pairs of quarter‐rudders, instead of one pair. Furthermore, quarter‐rudders may have been mounted on knob‐shaped thole‐pins, instead of crossbeams. The iconography also suggests that each quarter‐rudder was fitted with a loom‐line and specialized grommet, and rowers may have used a similar system to mount their oars. Finally, a recently published depiction of Sahure sailing a boat may show an anchor secured on the stern deck. © 2011 The Author     

Did Ancient Egyptian Ships have Keels? The evidence of Thonis‐Heracleion Ship 17

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.     

Aspects of economy and ritual in prehistoric Northeast Thailand

Non Nok Tha is one of several recently examined sites in N.E. Thailand yielding burial and occupation deposits covering the period c. 3500 BC to the present. These have provided evidence for bronze technology and rice consumption from initial site use.A study of the faunal remains indicates the presence of domestic cattle (Bibos) and pig, and probably water buffalo and dog, by the fourth millennium BC.     

DIGGING PITS AND MAKING PLACES AT UĞURLU DURING THE SIXTH MILLENNIUM BC

The site of U?urlu on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) is the earliest known Neolithic settlement within the Aegean Islands (c.6800–4500 cal. BC). In total, 37 pits, associated with a rich variety of artefacts as well as human and animal bones were excavated in the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic levels of the site (c.5900–4500 BC). The pits belonging to the early sixth millennium BC levels of U?urlu were small and located within the houses that seem to have gone through multiple episodes of house destruction and renovation rituals. During the late sixth millennium BC, this area became the focus of extensive pit‐digging activity, when large pits involving rich variety of artefacts were set within the courtyard of a special building (Building 4). Among the pits, a collective human burial pit (P188) incorporating the remains of 11 individuals and another pit (P52) involving a partial human skeleton were also found. From a comparative point of view, the construction techniques of these pits, their spatio‐temporal relations as well as their associated archaeological artefacts resemble the Anatolian and Near Eastern Neolithic practices of house destruction and renovation cycles, which are activities related to the ancestor cults of the region. We argue that all of these practices reflect public events during which social relations were negotiated through the agency of place. The differences observed during the sixth millennium BC at U?urlu reflect the changing concepts of place and society in the immediate aftermath of the Neolithic Process, when interactions with the Balkans as well as the Aegean intensified in this region.     

Earliest evidence of spinal tuberculosis from the Aneolithic Yayoi period in Japan

Tuberculosis has existed from early prehistoric days to modern times. The main causative agents of tuberculosis worldwide are Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) and M. bovis, along with M. africanum, M. cenettii and M. microti; these species make up the ‘M. tuberculosis complex’. This worldwide infection has been of special interest to palaeopathologists due to its characteristic bone lesions as well as its great antiquity. Historically, tuberculosis has been recognised in Japan for more than a thousand years. However, the origin and early prevalence of tuberculosis remain unknown. In the present study, we present the earliest evidence of skeletal tuberculosis found in the Aneolithic Yayoi period in Japan (ca. 300 BC to AD 300). The skeletal remains showing typical pathological changes of spinal tuberculosis were dated to between 454 BC and AD 124 by dendrochronological methods using coburied arrow-shield board and house columns made of Japanese cedar. We discuss the early prevalence of this infectious disease and its influence on the population history of the Japanese from prehistoric to Aneolithic times. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late third‐millennium elite burials in Bahrain

Studies of old aerial photographs of the Bahrain burial mound fields have revealed that a small number of both Early Type (c. 2200–2050 BC) and Late Type (c. 2050–1750 BC) mounds are encircled by an outer ring wall, apparently marking out the mound as belonging to an elite. Four of these mounds have been excavated, and the results are presented. The geological differences between the Early Type and the Late Type mound landscapes are discussed.     

A comprehensive numerical chronology for the pre-Columbian cultures of the Palpa valleys,south coast of Peru

Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Peru in 1532, many different societies flourished in the coastal desert of southern Peru. Of these, one of the best known is the Nasca culture (living in the area between about 260 cal BC and 640 cal BC.), which created the famous geoglyphs on the desert floor. In this paper we present a numerical chronology for the cultural development in the valleys of Palpa, in the northern part of the Nazca region, which spans the time from the Archaic Period (starting there around 3760 cal BC) to the Late Intermediate Period (terminating with the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 AD). The chronology is based on more than 150 ¹⁴C samples collected by our project from well-documented archaeological excavations of 17 different sites in and around Palpa. Thanks to the advanced AMS-¹⁴C dating technique, demanding only few milligrams of organic material, we could focus on samples of plants, like beans, corn, or reed, representing single years of growth or use, and also on delicate materials like straw from clay bricks (adobe) and textiles. All single ¹⁴C dates were combined to cultural phases using a Bayesian statistical model, implementing the a priori information of the archaeological contexts, and adopting the relative ceramic chronologies available for this area.     

New data on relevant ancient Egyptian wooden artifacts: Identification of wooden species and study of the state of conservation with multidisciplinary analyses

Wood species identification and characterization of its weathering processes are crucial steps in the scientific approach of conservation of wooden cultural heritage. Many precious wooden objects of ancient Egypt are largely present in museums, nevertheless relatively little information is available concerning the nature of timber used and on their status of conservation. To address this gap, the wooden species of three relevant archaeological wood objects (statue, box, and coffin) arising from different Egyptian archaeological sites dated from the Old Kingdom (2,686–2,181 BC) to New Kingdom (1,550–1,069 BC) were deeply studied. Five hardwood and softwood species were identified belonging to Tamarix mannifera, T. gennessarensis, Ficus sycomorus, Vachellia nilotica, and Cedrus sp. Such data confirmed the recurrence of Vachellia and Tamarix among the most common timbers found in ancient Egypt. Scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform spectroscopy, and synchrotron x-ray radiation diffraction were conducted to evaluate the archaeological wood deterioration. The formation of microcracks, biological degradation patterns (fungal colonization), or chemical characterization (accumulation of salts on and in-between wooden cells) were detected. SEM micrographs showed the presence of fungal hyphae and conidial spores on the wooden cells. Significant changes in the chemical wood composition and decrease in the crystallinity index were detected.     

The Ereğli E Shipwreck,Turkey: an early Hellenistic merchant ship in the Black Sea

A shipwreck from the early 3rd century BC was discovered in the Black Sea's suboxic depths off Ere?li, Turkey, during the 2011 E/V Nautilus expedition. Remote investigation revealed the trawl‐damaged remains of a merchant ship carrying multiple amphora types associated with Aegean and Pontic production areas. Also discovered were elements of the ship's hull that show evidence of both pegged mortise‐and‐tenon and laced construction. The wreck provides crucial archaeological evidence for both maritime connectivity and ship‐construction methods during a period of political and economic transition.     

Samuel Pepys’s Navy Preserved In Situ?

Abstract

This paper will focus on the wreck of the Stirling Castle, which was one of four ships of the line to perish on the Goodwin Sands during the Great Storm of 27 November 1703. The Goodwin Sands lies off the south-east coast of Kent between Dover and Ramsgate. These sands are famously known as the ‘Ship Swallower’. This paper will discuss what has been learnt from the site’s investigations, the heritage management issues of preservation in situ, and offer a strategy for the future management of the site.