A Report on the late 1st–2nd‐century‐AD Venice Lido III Sewn Timber Assemblage

Abstract

In 2012, fragments of hull planking bearing the signs of a Roman‐era sewn vessel, with holes drilled along the plank edges, washed ashore on Venice Lido, the barrier island separating the Venice Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. This paper describes the construction features of this timber assemblage and places it within the context of other excavated sewn boats of the Upper Adriatic. The assemblage presented here best fits into the north‐western Adriatic sewn tradition and likely represents either a fluvial‐maritime or maritime watercraft.

Abstracto

En 2012, fragmentos de tablazón de un casco que presentaba señales de haber pertenecido a una embarcación cosida de la era romana, con orificios elaborados en los cantos de las tablas, fueron arrastrados a Lido de Venecia, isla barrera que separa la Laguna de Venecia del Mar Adriático. Este artículo describe las características de construcción de este ensamblaje de maderas y lo sitúa dentro del contexto de otras excavaciones de barcos cosidos del Alto Adriático. La clasificación con que mejor se identifica el ensamblaje presentado aquí, es la tradición de costura del Adriático noroccidental y aparentemente representa una embarcación marítima o fluviomarítima.

Palabras clave: Proyecto Sutiles, barco cosido, construcción naval, Venecia, Adriático, Era Romana

摘要

关于公元1‐2世纪威尼斯利多3号上缝制接合技术的说明

2012年, 带有罗马时代缝制船痕迹及边缘存在钻孔的船体碎片冲上威尼斯利多岛, 这是一道将威尼斯泻湖与亚得里亚海隔开的天然屏障。本文记述-这种木材接合方式的建筑特征, 并将其置于其他在上亚得里亚海发掘的缝制船的范围内。文中的这一接合方式最符合亚得里亚海西北部的缝制传统, 它可能用于-艘河海两用船或是一艘海船。

关键词: Sutiles研究计划, 缝制船, 船舶建造, 威尼斯, 亚得里亚海, 罗马时代

關于公元1‐2世紀威尼斯利多3號上縫制接合技術的說明

2012年, 帶有羅馬時代縫制船痕迹及邊緣存在鑽孔的船體碎片衝上威尼斯利多島, 這是一道將威尼斯瀉湖與亞得里亞海隔開的天然屏障。本文記述-這種木材接合方式的建築特征, 並將其置于其他在上亞得里亞海發掘的縫制船的範圍內。文中的這一接合方式最符合亞得里亞海西北部的縫制傳統, 它可能用于-艘河海兩用船或是一艘海船。

關-詞: Sutiles研究計劃, 縫制船, 船舶建造, 威尼斯, 亞得里亞海, 羅馬時代

ملخص

Key words:

• Sutiles Project
• sewn boat
• ship construction
• Venice
• Adriatic
• Roman‐era

Acknowledgements

All work was conducted under the auspices of the Sutiles Project, a collaboration between the Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage of the University of Udine and the Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Veneto. The authors are indebted to Nili Lipschitz and Greg Hodgins, whose analyses of the materials were instrumental to our interpretations of this timber assemblage, to Mirco Cusin, Fabio Case, and Laura White, who contributed to the documentation of the timbers during the 2014 summer field season, and to Alessandra Milocco and Dario Innocenti who helped package the timbers for return transport.

Notes

1. The use of multiple laboratories for radiocarbon dating of samples in this study was largely a product of budgetary constraints. The processing and analytical tools of each lab is summarized here: University of Arizona AMS Facility (Arizona) ‐ ABA sample pretreatment; radiocarbon ages calibrated using the IntCal13 data set, and OxCal 4.2.4 software to 2 sigma measurement uncertainties (95.4% confidence interval); simple Bayesian statistics were applied to the related samples (plank and cordage samples from the same timber fragment) using models available in the OxCal software. International Chemical Analysis Inc. (ICA) ‐ AAA sample pretreatment; radiocarbon ages calibrated to BC/AD calendar years using the IntCal 13 data set to 2 sigma calibration (95% probability).

2. Listed here in alphabetical order: Caska Bay (1 and 3, Radić Rossi and Boetto, 2011; Boetto and Radić Rossi, 2017), Pula (1 and 2; Boetto et al., 2017), Zambratija (Boetto et al. 2017; Koncani Uhač et al. 2017), and Zaton, previously called Nin, (1, 2, and 3; Brusić and Domjan, 1985; Gluŝĉeviĉ, 2004; Brusić, 2006) shipwrecks. Boetto and Rousse (2011) persuasively argued that the Llubjlana boat, a sewn river barge in modern day Slovenia, should be categorized with the bottom‐based tradition of central Europe. It is therefore not included here as part of the eastern Adriatic sewn tradition.

3. Listed here in alphabetical order: Barena del Vigno in the Venice Lagoon (Dorigo, 1983: 247), Canale Anfora I and II (Beltrame, 2002: 358–359; Beltrame and Gaddi, 2013; Capulli 2013), Cavanella D'Adige (Tiboni, 2017: 290–295), Cervia (Bonino, 1968, 1971, 1985; Beltrame, 2002: 359–360), Comacchio (Bonino, 1985; Berti, 1990), Concordia (currently unpublished), Corte Cavanella I and II (Beltrame, 2002: 360–364), Marcon (Cipriano, 2011: 85–86; Beltrame and Gaddi, 2013: 302), Meolo I (Beltrame, 2002: 370–371), Oderzo (Beltrame, 2002: 367–368), Padova (Beltrame, 2002: 366), Pomposa‐Borgo Caprile (Bonino, 1968, 1978, 1985; Berti, 1986), Santa Maria in Padovetere (Beltrame and Costa, 2016), Stella 1 (Vitri et al., 1999, 2003; Capulli and Castro, 2014; Castro and Capulli, 2016; 2017: 425–430), and Venice Lido I and II (Beltrame, 1996, 2002: 355–358, 368–369) hull remains.