The Kitten Shipwreck: Archaeology and Reconstruction of a Black Sea Merchantman

In the early 1980s Bulgarian archaeologists of the newly established Centre for Underwater Archaeology at Sozopol discovered the remains of a post-medieval ship in the southern Bay of Kitten, in the lee of Cape Urdoviza. Between 2000 and 2003, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University and a team from the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology returned to the site to complete the first excavation of a post-medieval shipwreck in the Black Sea. The well-preserved vessel, lost in the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), featured constructional characteristics seen in Iberian shipbuilding tradition, such as scarfed floors and futtocks and filling pieces between the frames. Analysis of the Kitten ship permitted the author to reconstruct the whole-molding process used by the shipwright to build the vessel. The futtock-floor hook-scarphs appear to be the identifying part of the molding process. Morphologically identical scarfs have also been observed on Mediterranean wrecks such as Culip VI (14th century), Yassiada (16th century) and Sardineax (17th century), which suggests that the Kitten ship is a very late example of a Mediterranean-wide shipbuilding tradition that developed in the Middle Ages and from which the Atlantic vessel descended. It also points that the Black Sea maritime culture was an integral part of Mediterranean seafaring tradition. The dissertation offers an overview of the artifact assemblage raised from the Kitten shipwreck. Fragments of an iconostas prove that at the time of sinking the vessel was operated by Christians. The smoking paraphernalia found on the wreck provides opportunity to correct the dating of some pipe bowl types proposed by previous scholars. Personal belongings open a window into the life of the crew of a Black Sea merchantman. Although the ethnicity of the crew cannot be determined at this time, a group of copper galley ware suggests that they may have been Bulgarian. An unsolved mystery is presented by the presence of a navigational instrument, probably an octant, on board

The framing of seventeenth-century men-of-war in England and other northern European countries

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-174).Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.Nautical archaeology has enormously enriched our knowledge of ship construction, but so far most attention seems to have been lavished on ancient shipwrecks. The seventeenth century has attracted the least attention. No detailed studies of the construction of ships of this era have been published. When the subject is mentioned at all, it is a cursory overview, quite often inaccurate, always lacking depth. Extensive documentation, however, still survives in the form of shipbuilding treatises, contracts, correspondence, models, paintings and engravings, draughts, and last - but not least - archaeological remains. A number of modern attempts to describe the framing of the seventeenth-century ship exist, but none are dedicated studies of the subject. The most influential book is probably the work of Peter Goodwin - Construction of the English Man of War 1650-1850. Brian Lavery writes of construction in his books Ship of the Line, volume II, and Susan Constant, and he describes his reconstruction of Resolution, launched in 1667, in Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture. Lavery favors a multi-futtock arrangement, supporting the view that frames had no open spaces. Goodwin proposes a very similar model, but with double frames and his timbers are scarphed instead of butting. Yet the models and some illustrative material show a different framing pattern of overlapping floors and futtocks. For most of the period all contemporary sources agree that no more than two futtocks were employed. The following pages attempt to systematize the available evidence and, without claiming to be the last word on the subject or to have exhausted all sources, to show the development of framing in the sailing men-of-war throughout the seventeenth century. The emphasis will be on English warships, as evidence for them is more easily accessible and because English vessels of the seventeenth century, unlike those of the eighteenth, were well designed

Served on a Plate: A Late Medieval Ceramic Vessel with Sgraffito Decoration of a Sailing Ship from the Ropotamo Underwater Excavations, Black Sea, Bulgaria

We report on the interpretation of a late medieval Eastern Mediterranean glazed ceramic vessel with sgraffito decoration depicting a sailing ship. The artefact represents a chance find that was recovered outside the excavation area of the Ropotamo underwater archaeological excavations on the Southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in 2017. Fragments of late medieval sgraffito-decorated ceramics with depictions of sailing ships are rare. Complete examples can be considered exceptional. The Ropotamo artefact is of particular interest due to the freehand execution of its decoration, which suggests some understanding of contemporary ship proportions and seafaring practices on behalf of the artisan. The specimen is analyzed against similar artefacts and discussed in the context of maritime graffiti from the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean regions. The aim is to establish its potential for studying archaeological ceramics and evaluate the extent to which the decoration reflects aspects of Eastern Mediterranean maritime culture of the late Byzantine and early post-Byzantine periods. More research is required to appreciate the full potential of the Ropotamo artefact. A hypothesis for origin, dating and significance has been proposed. However, due to a shortage of published parallels, it may be subject to further refinements in the future in case more stratified similis are identified

Served on a Plate: A Late Medieval Ceramic Vessel with <i>Sgraffito</i> Decoration of a Sailing Ship from the Ropotamo Underwater Excavations, Black Sea, Bulgaria

We report on the interpretation of a late medieval Eastern Mediterranean glazed ceramic vessel with sgraffito decoration depicting a sailing ship. The artefact represents a chance find that was recovered outside the excavation area of the Ropotamo underwater archaeological excavations on the Southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in 2017. Fragments of late medieval sgraffito-decorated ceramics with depictions of sailing ships are rare. Complete examples can be considered exceptional. The Ropotamo artefact is of particular interest due to the freehand execution of its decoration, which suggests some understanding of contemporary ship proportions and seafaring practices on behalf of the artisan. The specimen is analyzed against similar artefacts and discussed in the context of maritime graffiti from the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean regions. The aim is to establish its potential for studying archaeological ceramics and evaluate the extent to which the decoration reflects aspects of Eastern Mediterranean maritime culture of the late Byzantine and early post-Byzantine periods. More research is required to appreciate the full potential of the Ropotamo artefact. A hypothesis for origin, dating and significance has been proposed. However, due to a shortage of published parallels, it may be subject to further refinements in the future in case more stratified similis are identified

Морски археологически проект Черно море

In 2017 the deep water research was carried out with the state of the art vessel “Havila Subsea”. By 6 m vibrocorer were taken 16 cores and by 18 m piston corer were taken another four. In total in 2016 and 2017 a coring program at 92 locations was accomplished resulting in 394 m of core samples (fig. 1). In 2017 23 shipwrecks were studied by ROVs to a maximal depth of 2111 m (fig. 2). Among the most important discoveries is the Ancient Greek shipwreck dated to the late 5th c. BC (fig. 3), the three Roman wrecks dated to 1st–4th c. and the Early Byzantine one dated to the 5th–6th c. During 2015–2017 MAP Black Sea project discovered and studied 61 shipwrecks presenting examples of vessels from all historical ages: form the time of the Early Classical Greek period up to the 19th c. Most of them have a very high degree of conservation of wooden hulls, making the Black Sea one of the most promising areas for researches on the history of ship building and seafaring of the Old worl