Archeologists found 3 shipwrecks that
show the different stages of shipwreck building and how they tried to improve
in cost and in labor. Archeologists describe the different cargos, and
possible explanations on how it was sunk. The archeologist also built scale
models of the ship and also tries to build the original ships back and
in a sense “enters” the ship maker’s life and discovers some problems he
might have had, and how he built the ship.
The Greek shipwreck of Kyrenea occurred
near 500 B.C. in the Mediterranean Sea. On this voyage its cargo was large
wine containers called amphorae. The amphorae were found all stacked up
neatly on one side, and all clustered on the other side. This proves that
when the vessel hit the ocean floor it was leaning on one side and eventually
the other side collapsed and all the amphorae got scattered. They found
403 intact amphorae and compared them to the previously collected amphorae
and then determined the date of the shipwreck. The archeologists also determined
that it was sunk sometime in September by all the fig leaves that were
found on board. How the ship sank remained a mystery until they found eight
iron spears in the ship but no gold, but there is a lack of bones. They
determined that pirates sank it because pirating was not an uncommon thing
at that age in time. The Kyrenea was built “Hull First” this is the beginning
of the ship building evolution.
The shipwreck of Yassi Ada is the next
shipwreck to happen in chronological order. It was build sometime near
625 A.D. and was dated by the coins found on board. It was build half hull
first then the rest frame first proving an evolution of shipbuilding. Found
inscribed is the ship were Greek words translated “This ship belongs to
George, Sr. Sea Captain.”
The Arabian shipwreck of Serge Liman took
place in about 1025 A.D. and was dated by a Arabian glass bottle found
on board. The bottle was round in shape and had a long arabian neck. This
is one of a few left that were found intact. The ship was carying glass
that was to be recycled from an old glass factory because the millions
of shattered glass peices could not be assembled together and they also
found peices that were molten. This ship was built frame first, the cheapest
and easiest way to build ships. This is the last ship building evolution
step to occur.
The ship building evolution occurred because
people always needed cheaper ways to build ships and ways that would reduce
labor costs. Ships where first built hull first and as time progressed
they started building ships half hull first half frame first, and finally
only frame first. Frame first is the most advanced because the hull can
be bent to size and held together by iron nails.