The Painting and Preservation of Ships in Antiquity: The Use of Archaeological Adhesives in Ancient Ship Construction and Maintenance

Abstract

The surface applications on hulls of ships represent unassuming vestiges of the maintenance of a vessel, and they have been used for millennia to provide aesthetic improvement, waterproofing, antifouling, structure, and protection against marine organisms. The selection and application of these materials represents an important part of the fitting-out and overhauling processes that appears to indicate a significant shipbuilding industry. The materials used for such processes vary with time and location. However, most include heat-altered plant resins known as tars that usually produced by the destructive distillation of softwoods. Geological exudates known as bitumen with a wide variety of additives including oils and waxes were also used (Glastrup, 1995; Urem-Kotsou et al., 2016). In this research, these materials will be collectively called archaeological adhesives.

While the industry of ship maintenance has come under significant study in northern and western European traditions of shipbuilding, it has heretofore been only presented piecemeal in ships of antiquity in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions. While point-of-use identifications occur with regularity, little attempt has been made to synthesize information from individual reports into a cohesive history of the materials’ production, distribution, trade, and analysis in maritime archaeological contexts (Beck et al., 1999).

This study presents the primary materials used to preserve hull surfaces of ancient ships in and around the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on wood-distilled vegetal tar and petroleum-based bitumen evident in the archaeological record and referenced in literary sources surrounding the construction and maintenance of the earliest traditions of ancient ships. It places the production and use of these materials for shipbuilding into the broader context of their use and trade in the ancient Mediterranean, as well as presenting hypotheses regarding the intentions of seafarers who used them. It also seeks to suggest a standard method of identification by evaluating the efficacy of modern analytical methods used in identifying these materials, and tests their effectiveness on samples of amorphous organic materials from a variety of ancient shipwrecks. In short, this dissertation hopes to guide future conversations between archaeologists and analysts studying these materials to better understand their implications and early maritime use.