Section I – Close encounters

Harbours and calls are encounter areas for sea- and river routes and hinterlands characterized by settlements of various kinds and by agricultural and manufacturing activities. The aim of the session is to study the links between trade and local productions through urban archaeology, settlement archaeology, landscape and underwater archaeology, by means of papers focusing on general issues or specific case-studies. Within the specific frame, suggested topics interest are: the mechanisms and organization of trade (local and long-distance exchange); relation between State and free market; the links between the productive areas and the commercial flows; the peculiar role of single areas, harbours, sites.

Speakers, section I:

MARINELLA PASQUINUCCI-ANTONELLA DEL RIO, Università di Pisa
and Dr TIMM WESKI, email KL911ae@mail.lrz-muenchen.de 

Close encounters 

Sea- and riverborne trade, ports and hinterlands, ship construction and navigation in Antiquity, Middle Ages and Early Modern Time. The Pisae and Volaterrae coastal territories are studied, linking the Roman commercial flows with the coastal and inland settlements. Sea and river routes, ports and calls, agricultural, commercial and manufacturing activities are examined, in a diachronical perspective, with special focus on stuffs traded in amphoras.

PAMELA GAMBOGI-SERGIO BARGAGLIOTTI-FRANCA CIBECCHINI Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana-Università di Pisa

The Punta Ala "B" wreck (Grosseto), Tuscany, Italy

A Roman wrecksite has been surveyed and partly excavated in 1998-99, on the nothern side of Punta Ala (Grosseto). The cargo was scattered on a sandy bottom at a depth of three m ; it included various goods from many production areas: amphoras of many forms and origin (at least Dressel 20, Gauloise 4, Forlimpopoli B, Dressel 2-4 and Spello amphoras), plain and decorated terra sigillata from Pisa, plain African terra sigillata, two glass cups and possibly African kitchen ware. The variety of the cargo allows us to reflect upon the links between long distance trade and local productions from northern Etruria, and to discuss the contribute of such a wrecksite in understanding the mechanisms and organisation of trade.

GIULIO CIAMPOLTRINI-PAOLA RENDINI Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana

Approdi e traffici nell'ager Cosanus e al Giglio fra Media e Tarda Età imperiale

Le campagne di scavo negli insediamenti portuali medio e tardo-imperiali di Torre Saline e Torre della Tagliata (sulla costa della terraferma) e nella villa del Saraceno, a Giglio Porto, integrate dall'evidenza di una serie di relitti scavati o documentati sulle coste del Giglio, permettono di discutere il ruolo svolto da questi approdi intermedi, sulle rotte delle provincie occidentali del Mediterraneo e dall'Africa verso Roma. Oltre a servire da approdi intermedi, i tre siti portuali investigati aprono ai commeric marittimi anche l'entroterra-si veda in particolare il ruolo di Torre Saline verso la Valle dell'Albegna, in limitata, ma sensibile ripresa fra III e IV sec. d.C.-e attestano il ruolo dominante svolto dalle merci d'importazione (sia in beni alimentari che in beni d'uso) nei siti portuali. Il confronto fra questi insediamenti portuali e quelli dell'Etruria settentrionale, diversamente condizionati dal retroterra, può concorrere al dibattito sul rapporto fra grande commercio transmarino e d'ambito locale nella Media e Tarda Età Imperiale.

PIERA MELLI Soprintendenza Archeologica della Liguria

The role of Genoa in the Mediterranean trade in Antiquity

(The abstract will be submitted as soon as possible)

JOSE PEREZ BALLESTER-GUILLERMO PASCUAL BERLANGA Universidad de Valencia

La commercializacion de las anforas apulas en las costas de Hispania

(The abstract will be submitted as soon as possible).

SIMONETTA MENCHELLI Università di Pisa

Coarse pottery throughout the Mediterranean (IIInd cent. BC-VIIth cent. AD)

The topic is the trade of coarse pottery during the Roman and late Roman period. Some wrecks will be examined (e.g. Mandrague de Giens; Trincere wreck). Coarse pottery found in some production, redistribution and consumption centres will be studied to delineate the local, regional and long-distance trade and its different mechanisms ( sea-routes connected with annona, peripatetic shipping, etc). The relationship between specialized (e.g.Campanian and Pantellerian kitchen ware) and non specialized fabrics will be studied in several sample sites, in a diachronical perspective.

RODOLFO BARGNESI Universita’ di Pavia

Inland navigation in ancient Northern Italy: the port of Ticinum

The importance in Antiquity of the inland waterway system of the river Po and its affluents is supported by considerable literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Ticinum (Pavia) was a land and river junction connecting the western Alpine passes and the Adriatic Sea, thus playing a significant role well into the Middle Ages.

RONALD BOCKIUS Museum of Ancient Navigation-Mainz

Roman heavy water transports in the Middle-Rhine area

One of the typical vessels used on inland waters in the provinces at the age of the Roman Empire were flat-bottomed prams that can be found from the Low Countries in the west to the middle Danube in the east. According their constructional features most of the wrecks are solely related to the so called Romano-Celtic ship building tradition also indicated by other more rounded craft either seagoing and restricted on rivers or lakes. In some of the findings, analyses proofed technological influences by mediterranean handicraft and skills, so it is not surprising to detect there indications of ancient measurement rules resp. for the use of the pes Romanus. Fresh investigations on the pram capacities brought up to light that they left the only thinkable solutions for problems of heavy transports. Focused on the micro-region of the Middle-Rhine area the author refers to Roman building projects, bridges, town walls,churches etc. whose building materials had been transported over distances of hundred or more miles from well-known quarries. Calculating volumes and weights of either loads and ships, he comes to the result that such cargos have been the most economical method for mass-products; certain loads impossibly could be carried over land. The distribution of the almost 30 wrecks studied implies the use of that ship type in a military environment. Archaeological evidences of the character of the places where prams have been found supports that meaning the more as historical cross-links of logistical duties of the Roman inland fleets and the proof of professionals for navigation or shipbuilding in the legion point to the same.

JAN BILL Centre for Maritime Archaeology-Roskilde

Exploring the maritime topography of the medieval town

In 1998, the 5th International Conference on Waterfront Archaeology was held in Copenhagen, focusing on the topic "Maritime Topography and the Medieval Town" (ISBN 87-89384-68-7). The conference aimed at discussing the influence of maritime functions on the topographical development of medieval towns, and a total of twenty North-European towns, ranging from metropolis as London down to local market towns, were addressed in individual papers. The present paper aims at bringing further this discussion by synthesising the results of the Copenhagen conference, and by attempting to identify general trends and patterns in North-European urban development, which can be related to the maritime functions of some towns. It will be argued that harbour infrastructure is likely to be a good mirror for changes in urban organisation, and some ideas about how to do this will be forwarded for discussion. The paper will furthermore include a presentation of an ongoing study of the medieval Danish urban landscape focusing on the maritime topography, and will discuss some preliminary results of this project.

Section II – Maritime Aspects of the European Expansion to Overseas and its influence on the Homelands 1300 to 1650

The European expansion to overseas first to the Atlantic coast of Africa and to the Americas, later into the Indian and Pacific Ocean led to a great change in the maritime world: vessels grew in size, new navigation methods had to be developed, new coasts were charted, multimasted square riggers were introduced, in Northern Europe the carvel technique as well as the lateen sail became popular, in the Mediterranean the square sail came in use again etc. There was not only the exchange of goods and people with the new colonies, but also the fishery on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland and Arctic whaling. All this had influence on the European homelands. Goods imported from overseas created new industries in Europe. On the other hand the market for European products grew, e.g. for merchandise being exchanged against slaves in Western Africa. Ship builders and related crafts had to cope with new challenges. Larger ships asked for new harbour facilities. In combination with fishery and whaling this meant that more people lived and worked in a maritime surrounding. To make these changes visible it is also necessary to deal with the situation prior to c. 1450. Contribution dealing with none archaeological matters like map making or navigation are very welcome. In addition to this topic there will be room for one or two papers dealing with more general, recently being discussed aspects of maritime archaeology. Apart from talks lasting 20 minutes shorter presentations of 5 or 10 minutes on ongoing research falling into the theme of the session can be given as well.

Speakers, section II:

John Naylor, Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK, E-mail: j.d.naylor@durham.ac.uk 

Emporia and their hinterlands in eastern England, AD 650-900

The early medieval emporia of north-west Europe, which flourished between the seventh and ninth centuries, have been instrumental in forming our understanding of the economy during this period. Such settlements, including, for example, Dorestad (Netherlands) and Ipswich (England), have produced vast quantities of imported materials, and provided evidence for a network of long-distance trade stretching around the North Sea, and into the Baltic. In recent years, interpretation of these sites has, generally, moved away from Hodges’ (1982) original thesis in which emporia were seen as ‘ports-of-trade’, used to procure certain, often rare, goods for the elites of society which could then be used in prestige goods exchange. More recent analyses have pointed towards large-scale craftworking as a primary function (Hodges 1996), and the idea that these were settlements where surplus from estates could be traded for foreign goods in a partially commercialised economy (e.g. Scull 1997). As a result, we now see the emporia in a wider context, unrestricted by the need to be somewhat divorced from their surrounding region. However, in Britain, there has been, and still is, a lack of research examining the relationship that these sites had with the rural settlements in their hinterland, perpetuating an image of the early medieval economy which is very much skewed toward long-distance trading. The paper will present some results from research undertaken in eastern England exploring aspects of the relationships between emporia and their hinterlands by discussing three relatively broad questions, which are crucial to any understanding of urban-hinterland relationships during this period. These are: what types of goods were redistributed into the surrounding region? What was the role of the rural economy; and, did the emporia have a monopoly, or near monopoly, over long-distance trading contacts?

Petr Sorokin, The Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Science, 191186, Dvortzovaja nab.18. St.Petersburg, Russia, tel.(7 812) 3121484, fax. (7 812) 3116271, E-mail: Petrarh@PS2333.spb.edu 

The ships and boats of late medieval Russia

Medieval Russia, with its geographical position, was integrated in the political, economical and cultural processes of Europe. But the Russian territory included also inland parts of eastern Europe. The big river-systems to the seas were situated outside of this area. The remoteness of its main centres from the coast of seas promoted the increasing of the role of the inner water-ways, connected with seas, which were important parts of the transcontinental trade ways from the North Europe to Russia and East. After the gradual colonisation of the shores of the inner water-ways, during the late Middle Ages, the forward bases of Russian crafts were transferred from the far districts of the region closely to the Baltic, Black, White and Caspian Sea coasts – to the new settlements on the lover parts of river-system. The important prerequisites to development of Russian navigation on seas were thus created.
But there existed also political problems to organise this process, which were decided only in beginning of the 18th century. All of it were obstacles to Russian sea navigation, which developed mostly in Arctic seas, and some periods in Baltic and Southern seas. The Russian boats travel to Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Germany in the North, and to Turkey and Iran in the South. 
The Investigation of the Russian late medieval boat building tradition shows that there were many things common in boat construction and building technology in old Russian boundary territories. The natural conditions of the Russia: many the shallow and rapid parts of the rivers, the rich forest resources contributed to the primary spreading on that territory the types of vessels, build with a dugout base and flat-bottomed planks boats. They could overcome obstacles on water-ways and were easy to be made. This type of boats have been build some times for one travel – downstream lake a container, and then taking to pieces for different buildings ore routs. The boats with a dugout base, were used for coastal sea going to modern time. They had from one to four additional onboard planks. To this type belonged the southern variants of sea boats: chaika, strug. The shape of the planks boats during the process of evolution became more streamlined, therefore these boats could be used for the sea and lake navigation.
The northern types of sea going boats: lodia, karbas, soima, koch of the late Middle Ages and post medieval period had planking, connected with the spreading of sewing technique of local tradition. All sea going boats had medium size – about 12-18 m. long, half decks, cabin, one – two mast with square or sprint sails, and also oars. 
The international seas contacts in Europe promoted spreading new technological ideas in shipbuilding. In northern-western Russian boat building tradition can be traced a marked closeness to contemporary Scandinavian and Hanseatic towns shipbuilding technology. At the some time some original features can be distinguished. While acknowledging the essential foreign influence on the development of local boat and shipbuilding, should be taken into account connected with traditions of local Finnish inhabitants and the boat building technology, brought by Novgorodian Slovens from their native land. In late medieval Russian chronicles and Acts the term: lodya, was used to name Russian river, lake and sea vessels until the 16th century and later. The terms: karbas, soima, koch appeared in post medieval period. It is noteworthy, that in this documents the terms korabl (Russian name for big ship), galeja, catorga, shneka and busa are used only to designate foreign vessels: Mediterranean, Swedish and German. Among late medieval Russian representations of local crafts are there representations ships which according to some constructive peculiarities can be connected with the shipbuilding traditions of the neighbouring West European regions. The Russian sea going boats of late medieval time distinguish old characteristics until beginning 18th century, when as results of a special program by Peter the Great, Russia got modern shipbuilding technology and fleets.

Michael J. Beach, United Kingdom

A Modern Experiment in Sixteenth Century Celestial Navigation at Sea: The Mariner’s Astrolabe and Cross-staff

In their time, Bartholomew Dias and Vasco de Gama demonstrated superior blue water navigational ability using the mariner’s astrolabe and cross-staff. In evaluating many antiquated arts and sciences and their associated tools, we often face the risk of under-appreciating the skill and understanding required to use the tools effectively. For a modern experiment, the author has manufactured a mariner’s astrolabe in the likeness of the Portuguese astrolabe in Dundee, Scotland and a contemporary cross-staff. Using modern declination tables for the sun and stars, these instruments were employed in a trans-Atlantic crossing from Miami to Morocco during the summer of 2000. An understanding of how the instruments were used was researched to determine the effectiveness of the mariner’s astrolabe for sighting the sun and the cross-staff for shooting the stars. Subsequently, the instruments were compared to a modern sextant, a Global Positioning System (GPS), and different levels of ability between different users were tested. This presentation will focus on the construction of the instruments and the results of the experiment during the trans-Atlantic voyage.

Claire Calcagno, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 347,Boston, MA 02115, USA, calcagno@bu.edu 

'The wat'ry Maze': early navigators in the Bermuda Islands

A survey and preliminary excavation project, in conjunction with Boston University and the Bermuda Maritime Museum, is being conducted at a reef located west of the Bermuda Islands as part of the ongoing local maritime heritage management program. Prof. Claire Calcagno and Prof. Francisco Estrada-Belli are investigating the site of what appears to be the late sixteenth century Spanish vessel, 'El Galgo'. Wrecked only a few decades before the settlement of Bermuda by English colonists, the vessel under investigation represents the demise of a ship travelling along what was to become a standard route between the Old and New Worlds. The Bermuda archipelago had by this time become an important landmark for seafarers returning from the Caribbean to European shores, along a route which swung eastward upon sighting the islands; over 400 wreck sites testify to the treacherous nature of the surrounding reefs, the "wat'ry maze" to which A. Marvell's early poem so aptly refers.* The paper will focus on the results of the field season, and provide an historical background to the vessel in the study of its identity as 'El Galgo'. Navigational conditions and hazards of the Bermuda reefs will be discussed, and issues inherent in ocean route evolutions considered as well. GIS survey and documentation of the area during our field season will provide the opportunity for spatial analyses of the wrecked sites in the environs.

*The phrase in the title, "wat'ry maze", is taken from an early English poem on the Bermuda islands by Andrew Marvell.

Alexandre Monteiro, Delegação nos Açores do Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática Caminho de Baixo, 68 - São Pedro 9700-023 Angra do Heroísmo 351 - 936 - 24 13 815, arqueologia@portugalmail.pt 

The Azores underwater cultural heritage: strategies, surveys, excavations and results (1995-2000)

The potential of all nine Azorean Islands (Portugal) for post-Medieval shipwrecks studies is immense, and is only now being realized through a collaborative effort by archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the Azores, and mainland Portugal. Indeed, the rugged shorelines of each island are one of the most promising regions in the world today for maritime archaeology, for beneath its waters lie the remains of scores of ships dating from the mid fifteenth century to the present day. Since 1995, several underwater archaeological projects have been conducted in the Azores, resulting in the discovery and study of 16 historical shipwrecks. The present communication deals with the survey strategies adopted and will present the preliminary results obtained so far.

Catarina Garcia, CNANS/DRC, E-mail: tocuxi@ip.pt 

Preliminary assessement of the daily life on board of an Iberian ship from the beginning of the XVIIth century (Terceira, Azores)

In 1996, when a project for the construction of a marina in the bay of Angra do Heroísmo was presented, it was necessary to recognise the historical importance of the site to safeguard it from negative impacts upon the archaeological heritage that might exist in the affected area. This caused works of underwater archaeological search to be previously performed in the building area of the future breakwater. The search method using metal detection was used in order to mark possible metal masses, to which contexts of wrecked ships might be associated. It was through this method that the remains of two ships called Angra C e Angra D were found. Angra D was located, at the end of the search task, in the last days of February 1997 and its location was again made possible owing to an enormous metallic mass. With an extension of thirty five by nine meters direction SW-NE, Angra D was almost totally covered by a layer of about 80 cm of ballast stones and only some of the edges of the ship’s structure were visible. In this presentation, some of the more meaningful and representative of the variety of the remains collected will be presented, the ones that illustrate aspects of life on board of this ship and the nature of its load. The remains can be divided into different categories: artefacts related to the ship, artefacts of personal use, artefacts belonging to religious life, several other artefacts, evidence of the shipload, evidence of the food and its preparation and still traces of pests and existing animals on board.

Christer Westerdahl, Forhistorisk o. Klassik Arkeologie, Vondkunsten 5, DK-1467 Kopenhagen, Denmark

(The abstract remains to be submitted)