A well-preserved shipwreck dating back to roughly 1200 BC will be pulled from the sea in sections next month to further study the techniques used to build the vessel, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) recently announced.
The shipwreck is located off the coast of Croatia in the Bay of Zambratija in the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers refer to it as the “Zambratija ship,” and it measures roughly 39 feet in length, of which roughly 23 feet is well-preserved, Newsweek reports. The ship is of interest to researchers mainly because of its age and the fact that it’s a hand-sewn boat.
“Its architecture and its construction, the assembly technique of the strakes, as well as the waterproofing system of the hull, have no equivalent in the Mediterranean area,” a description of the wreck from Centre Camille Jullian, one of the organizations that will study the ship, said. “Due to all these architectural features, the types of assemblage employed and the dating, the Zambratija boat can be considered as the archetype of one of the sewn boat building traditions identified in the Adriatic.”
#PressRelease 🗞 The Zambratija boat 🛳 will be studied in detail by a Franco-Croatian team from the @CCJ_CNRS and the Archaeological Museum of Istria. From the 2nd July, a team of divers will remove sections of the boat in the bay of Zambratija.
➡ https://t.co/n32zvhkSBk pic.twitter.com/mGJbyRVQsN
— CNRS 🌍 (@CNRS) June 6, 2023
The technique of sewn-built ships includes wooden planks that are sewn together with tendons or flexible fibers, which can be roots, ropes, or willow branches, according to Ancient Origins. This type of boat build was common before metal fasteners were developed. The Zambratija ship is the oldest example of this technique discovered in the Mediterranean, CNRS notes. It is also a “rare” example of the “ancient shipbuilding tradition of Istria and Dalmatia,” which are two Croatian coastal regions.
According to the organization, divers will pull up sections of the ship on July 2. Then, researchers with the Centre Camille Jullian and the Archaeological Museum of Istria will study the ship “in detail” and reconstruct it, creating a 3D model. In addition to studying the technique used, researchers hope to learn the date of construction and identify what types of fibers were used to build the ship.
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“Handling relics of this calibre is a delicate affair; therefore, every stage of the process will require the utmost care,” CNRS said in a press release.
The organization expects the ship to be desalinated, restored, and eventually placed in a naval maritime heritage museum. The boat was initially discovered in 2014 by fishermen, and, according to Newsweek, researchers have been eyeing the possibility of removing the ship from the water since.