Fall 1979 INA Activities Around the World ~~~~ 9F)~

\JOL 6 NO 3 INANEWSLETTER Fall 1979 INA Activities Around The World ~~~~ 9f)~ BROWN'S FERRY I FREMANTLE Map by: M. Perreault 11)'1? The close of the last summer field sea ongoing excavations and field school in SERCE LIMAN son of the 1970's seems an appropriate volvement to furnishing specific conser time to pause and reflect on the current vation help and providing assistance in The medieval shipwreck at Sen;e work of the Institute of Nautical Archaeol ship modeling and ship reconstruction for Liman was discovered during the Insti ogy. With its headquarters now firmly museum purposes. tute's first project, the 1973 shipwreck based at Texas A&M University, the na Some of these activities (notably the survey of the southwest coast of Turkey. ture and scope of Institute activities has Hellenistic Wreck at Sen;e Liman and the Excavation of the wreck, in a depth of begun a gradual and natural expansion. Cayman Islands Survey) will be the sub about 33 meters, was begun in 1977, con- Devoting the major part of this issue to a ject of major articles in forthcoming edi review of these INA activities provides tions of the Newsletter. In the meantime, longtime as well as newer Institute mem members are here provided with at least bers, supporters, and friends with a broad an introduction to these and other newly view of recently completed and ongoing developing projects, along with a review projects. of more familiar Institute work. A glance at the INA Activities Map indi In order to cover adequately all INA cates the wide geographic range of Insti work, the Newsletter, for this special edi tute involvement, while the accompanying tion only, has been expanded to 12 pages. text illustrates the diverse nature of INA The following reports were, for the most work on ships and sites dating from the part, written by the individual Project Hellenistic period to the 19th century. In Directors or by the principals involved in stitute activities now range from major, the other activities covered. INA President, George F. Bass. tinued in 1978 and completed during the pitchers, bowls, millstones and finally, the past summer. In order to ensure proper · first evidence of a preserved hull. Dr. Bass conservation and analysis of the artifacts hopes to complete the excavation of this recovered, Dr. Fred van Doorninck and a shipwreck in future seasons. small team of INA staff members, includ Rhys Townsend, a student at the Amer ing Texas A&M graduate student Sheila ican School of Classical Studies in Athens Matthews, remained at the Institute's who has worked on INA projects in the Turkish headquarters, in Bodrum, follow Mediterranean and on the East Coast of ing the 1978 season. This continuing work the U.S., was placed in charge of studying on the artifactual material is being carried a potential shipwreck site referred to as out in the Bod rum Crusader Castle where, the "Scatter Wreck". He was able to iden in recognition of the Institute's work, tify most of the broken pottery from this Turkish authorities have established a badly jumbled site as East Greek. museum of Nautical Archaeology and His Dory Slane, a Texas A&M graduate stu tory, under the direction of Oguz Alpozen. dent, and INA adjunct professor Don Frey In the opinion of Dr. George F. Bass, worked together to produce a photo principal investigator, the excavation of mosaic and plan of the entire seabed from the "Glass Wreck," as it has come to be the shore down to the Glass Wreck, known due to the nature of its cargo, is the gathering, studying and recording hun most successful INA project to date. Pre dreds of pieces of pottery in the process, liminary results of the excavation have to help unravel the history of the harbor. Cerna/ Pulak carries to the surface a small been published in several periodicals and handleless vessel from the Hellenistic Wreck. Other possible shipwreck sites have journals, including the International Jour Photo: D. Frey been discovered in the harbor, and infor nal of Nautical Archaeology, Archaeolo mal surveys of the valley at the north end gy, National Geographic Magazine, and The hull remnants were mapped and of the harbor and the surrounding hillsides the INA Newsletter; however, years of te raised. Most remnants have been re indicate the area was relatively densely dious conservation, analysis, reconstruc corded and prepared for conservation inhabited in the past, particularly during tion and research lie ahead before the with polyethylene glycol. The ship, a flat the Hellenistic period. At Ser9e Liman the final report can be issued. bottomed vessel some 16 meters long, harbor and its environs still hold many Principal cargo of the Glass Wreck con may well prove to be the earliest extant secrets. sists of finished glass vessels, flawed or ship with a completely skeletal-built hull, broken glass objects, raw glass cullet and and is therefore of considerable historical about 90 amphoras. In addition, the ship interest. Rigging elements, including carried eight iron anchors and approxi heart-shaped deadeyes and parts of mately two tons of ballast stones. perhaps one-half dozen pulley blocks, Small finds of particular interest include suggest that the ship may have been a spindle whorls, gold and silver jewelry, two-masted lateener. Three separate liv wooden chess pieces and a large number ing areas, located in bow, amidships and of swords, lances and javelins. Money re in the stern, have been recognized. Food INA's newly-acquired VIRAZON used in support covered consists of Fatimid gold coins, had been stored and prepared in the latter of work at Ser~;e Liman. Photo: D. Frey clippings from other such coins and two areas; food remains revealed a re Byzantine copper coins. Other objects re markably varied shipboard diet. lated to the ship's commercial activities include elements of three balances, some SHINAN-GUN 30 balance-pan weights and four Byzan In October 1977 Korean Navy divers tine lead seals. Dates legible on some of discovered the site of a Yuan period the glass weights point to a date shortly (1260-1368) Chinese shipwreck in a before 1025 for the ship's sinking. location between two islands on the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula known as Shinan-gun. The divers were working under the direction of govern Robyn Woodward working on Glass Wreck ment archaeologists who had been material in Bodrum Museum Conservation Lab. urged to come to Shinan by local fisher Photo: D. Frey men after they discovered encrusted, While the excavation of the Glass but intact, celadons (a type of stoneware Wreck was nearing completion, the INA with a blue-green glaze) in their nets, group turned its attention to other poten while fishing at the site. The divers man tial shipwreck sites within the harbor. aged to pinpoint the remains of the ship Cemal Pulak, veteran of several excava in water sixty feet deep, and to raise tion seasons with INA, was placed in more than 8,000 artifacts despite strong charge of testing a Hellenistic (or possibly winds, high seas, fierce currents and the Classical) wreck site near the harbor en complete absence of visibility under wa trance. Looted of many amphoras in the ter, before diving was curtail~d due to past, almost nothing of the site was visible sub-freezing temperatures. on the seabed before testing began. Re The Navy divers measured the por moval of deep sand uncovered hundreds tions of the hull projecting slightly above of amphoras identified as having been the bottom, and estimated the ship was The last sections of Glass Wreck hull remains made on the nearby island of Knidos. Be about 100 feet long and 25 feet wide. were raised in 1979. neath these were dozens of small jars, continued on page 4 2 CONSERVATION OF THE MONITOR PLATE PROJECT VISITORS In August, 1973, the remains of the The INA summer tour of archaeologi USS Monitor were found, in 220 feet of cal sites in Greece and Turkey took 19 water, 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hat participants, including some Institute teras, North Carolina. Following photo Board members, to nine locations in grammetric survey of the wreck in 1977, those two countries. Highlights of the trip divers raised a number of artifacts from included major stops at the Bodrum the Monitor including a sample of the iron Museum and the "Glass Wreck" site at hull plating. The recovery of the plate was Sen;e Liman. The tour will be the subject undertaken to help develop information of a major article in the next issue of the on the condition of material on the wreck INA Newsletter. and to provide insight into the preserva tion problems which would be involved in MONITOR plate after conservation. the recovery of any additional material. Photo: D. L. Hamilton INA members Robert and Cynthia Car Dr. D. L. Hamilton, now of Texas A&M each regular change of the solution (see ter called again at Serge Liman in their University and the Institute of Nautical INA Newsletter 6:1) . auxiliary ketch Cynthia R. (see photo on Archaeology, agreed to undertake con After 81 days the plate was considered page 772 of the June 1978 National servation of the plate and it arrived at the sufficiently stabilized and was removed Geographic) . The visit proved especially newly-established Nautical Archaeology from electrolysis. The plating was im helpful when Bob pulled out his thick file Research Laboratory in July of 1978. mersed in a series of deionized water of notes on Serge Liman and the Prior to shipment from North Carolina, rinses over a three-day period and then surrounding area in antiquity, taken from ten samples were cut from the plate for dried through the application of isopropyl ancient authors, early travellers, and various analytical tests.

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