The 5th‐Century BC Shipwreck at Tektaş Burnu, Turkey: evidence for the ship's hull from nail concretions

Abstract

The Tektaş Burnu ship (440–425 BC) sank along a rough and desolate stretch of the Turkish Aegean coast. Archaeological excavation of the shipwreck site by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University resulted in the retrieval of hundreds of small fragments from the ship's wooden hull and its metal fasteners. Recent study of this artefact assemblage suggests that the coastal trader was built with pine planks and made‐frames, and assembled by a shell‐based construction method. Fasteners include pegged mortise‐and‐tenon joints and double‐clenched copper nails, and the ship may have had laced extremities consistent with other contemporaneous shipwrecks.

Key words:

• Tektaş Burnu
• shipbuilding
• mortise‐and‐tenon joinery
• copper fastenings
• made‐frames
• 5th century BC

Acknowledgements

I thank George Bass, Director, and Deborah Carlson, Assistant Director of the excavation, for inviting me to study the ship's hull remains, and J. Richard Steffy and Frederick van Doorninck Jr. for sharing their experience and expertise. I also thank Sophie Stos, Joel Jurgens, Nili Liphschitz, and Ann Ellis, Glenn Grieco and Mike Pendleton at Texas A&M University for their interest and assistance with this study. I am grateful to Michael Fitzgerald, Mark Polzer and Cemal Pulak for allotting their time to read and edit this paper. Finally, thanks to the two reviewers; their comments have undoubtedly improved this article.