A Maritime Pompeii

[Gaius Octavius]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/67475?&GT1=10547

 

 

"The San Rossore train station on the edge of Pisa, Italy, is a lonely stop. Tourists who visit this city to see its famous leaning tower generally use the central station across town. But San Rossore is about to be recognized as one of the country's most significant archeological digs. For nearly a decade archeologists have been working near and under the tracks to unearth what is nothing short of a maritime Pompeii.

 

"So far the excavation has turned up 39 ancient shipwrecks buried under nine centuries of silt, which preserved extraordinary artifacts. The copper nails and ancient wood are still intact, and in many cases cargo is still sealed in the original terra cotta amphorae, the jars used for shipment in the ancient world. They have also found a cask of the ancient Roman fish condiment known as garum and many mariners' skeletons

Edited November 2, 2007 by Gaius Octavius

[caldrail]

I'm astonished! What happened to preserve these ships in place with cargoes intact? I cannot believe they simply walked away from all of that and left it there to be silted up - thats ridiculous. Something must have occured that forced romans away from their property.

[Gaius Octavius]

Perhaps it was uneconomic to retrieve the cargoes, or simply not possible in those days.

[Klingan]

Wow this is truly exciting news. I wish I had known this when I had my lecture 2 weeks back, I could have made a far more exciting part on ancients ships then.

 

Anyway for you who noticed it they're talking about a Swedish ship that was preserved, this is it:

 

 

It actually sank after just 20 minutes into her first voyage 1628! It was recovered in 1961.

[Maladict]

I'm astonished! What happened to preserve these ships in place with cargoes intact? I cannot believe they simply walked away from all of that and left it there to be silted up - thats ridiculous.

 

If it happens fast enough there's not much you can do.

The Arno was capable of doing that, and still is.

[Melvadius]

The reason for the survival of the ships and their contents is the same as at any other waterlogged location, especially when covere bay a lair of mud. The absence of air means that the rate of deterioration of timber and other organic material is slowed almost to a stop.

 

As to the question about why the ships were abandoned as the article indicates this may have been due to a sudden storm overwhelming the ships in the harbour making them waterlogged and sinking them before the crew could save the ships. In some conditions this can even happen when a ship is tied up to a quayside.

 

By analyzing pollen found in the mud covering the ships, archaologists have determined that there is evidence for at least 4 major flood events from the Bronze age onwards as four distinct layers covered the ships. There is no guarantee that the ships were lost during one of these events as any sudden storm can lead to a ship being sunk but they do give an indication of how sever some storms could be on the Arno.

 

Melvadius

Edited November 3, 2007 by Melvadius

[caldrail]

I think there's also a reminder in all of this of how precarious sea travel could be in those times. This was the early days of ship design and I doubt the vessels were capable of weathering storms easily, much less cope with what appears to be tsunamis.