Roman ship confirms Notitia Dignitatum

[guy]

Skeleton of of a suspected Roman ship was found in coal quarry.

The Roman city of Viminacium was a major military camp and the capital of Moesia Superior (today’s Serbia).

According to the Roman document Notitia Dignitatum, part of the Danube fleet was anchored at Viminacium. The veracity of the claims, however, were long debated since the city is not near any modern waterway.

The finding of a suspected 3rd or 4th century AD Roman water-ship in a large coal quarry at least supports the idea that the Danube was either flowing farther south than it does today or a major branch of the river was near the city.
 

 

 

 

https://greekreporter.com/2023/08/04/ancient-roman-ship-serbia/

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by guy

[guy]

Here’s some further information about the find:

Quote

The wooden remains were buried in a layer of silt about 25 feet (8 meters) below the surface. The mine's coal seam is reached by cutting away the topsoil with a mechanical digger, and the wreck was found on the wall of the cutting.

Quote

Only the bottom and partially the sides are preserved. That bottom was made of oak planks, they were joined by a system of wedges and transversed forked beams fastening the sides of the ship. The stern and the central part have been preserved.

Quote

 

The ship is much larger than the one found in 2020. The preserved length is 13 meters, and it was certainly longer, probably more than 20 meters, since it is a meter wider than the previous ship," he said.

Organic materials like wood usually rots when exposed to air, but  the wooden boards and the sand above them were damp, so it seemed that moisture had helped preserve the ancient vessel.

But after it was unearthed, "the great danger was the bright sun, which threatened to dry out the ship too quickly," so the archaeologist doused the remains with water as they excavated the wreck, the spokesperson noted.

The wreck is not the first ancient vessel unearthed nearby: The remains of similar boats were found in the area in 2020, indicating the region was once a navigable backwater of the nearby Danube.

 

 

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/ancient-roman-boat-from-empires-frontier-unearthed-in-serbian-coal-mine

 

https://www.telegraf.rs/english/3727618-ship-remains-at-least-10-centuries-old-.found-at-viminacium

Edited August 7, 2023 by guy

[caldrail]

The existence of a ship is not necessarily what it appears to be. Certainly it points to navigable waterways which can change considerably over time, but a similar wreck uncovered by Time Team was found to have been moored merely to stop erosion

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by caldrail

[guy]

2 hours ago, caldrail said:

The existence of a ship is not necessarily what it appears to be. Certainly it points to navigable waterways which can change considerably over time, but a similar wreck uncovered by Time Team was found to have been moored merely to stop erosion

Thank you for reading my post. Your point is well made. The fact that two boats have now been discovered in the area, however, makes me suspicious. Plus, the city of Viminacium's being described as a harbor in Nototia Dignitatum (despite its modern distance from any waterway) seems to confirm the belief that the city was once a possible port.

[caldrail]

A river wharf more likely but the location of a trade post was not contested. Water transport was the most preferred means of getting goods around in the Roman Empire, which indicates that the much vaunted road system wasn't what we expect in todays thinking.