Mediterraneum Mare: Shipbuilding in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (AD 1000 - 1700)

Abstract

Nautical archaeologists over many decades have uncovered a plethora of Mediterranean shipwrecks from different periods. Debates about how shipbuilders organized, designed, and constructed ships developed alongside the subdiscipline. Most archaeologists agree that a significant shipbuilding transition occurred during the early medieval period (AD 600 – 1000). Shipbuilders previously assembled the hull with edge-joined planks before installing a rudimentary supportive frame network. By the beginning of the late medieval period (AD 1000 – 1500), most ships were assembled with the frames erected first and non-edge-joined planking afterward.

Recent investigations explored this transition in some detail, but there has not been a similar comparative analyses about the lingering effects from this change for subsequent periods. This study explores Mediterranean shipbuilding in the late medieval and early modern period (AD 1000 – 1700) to understand how the new construction technique was adopted and matured. The dataset utilizes the operational process as a lexicon, methodology, and analytic technique, while gauging whether this material should be organized based on hull profile typologies or as communities of practice, as envisioned by practice and social learning theories. Preserved state papers and a gradual interest by Renaissance merchants and sailors writing about shipbuilding also provide a supplementary dataset that is discussed and compared against the archaeological material. Findings suggest that shipbuilding in this period was much more complex than assumed and not all previous techniques were abandoned.