| dc.description.abstract | While excavating a late fourth-century Roman merchantman off the coast of
Yassiada, Turkey in 1967, archaeologists discovered another, more recent wreck lying
across the stern of the Roman wreck. The artifact assemblage, dendrochronology, and
carbon-14 dating indicated that the wreck was of Ottoman origin and dated to the late
sixteenth-century. In 1982 and 1983, archaeologists under the auspices of the Institute of
Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University returned to the site to fully excavate the
vessel and raise its timbers for detailed study and conservation at the Bodrum Museum
of Underwater Archaeology in Turkey. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the
remains of the hull by building upon previous preliminary reconstruction efforts to
determine the ship's intended form and function.
To accomplish this task, 1:10 scale drawings of the timbers were used to
construct a half breadth model of the ship. By matching the nail holes on the recovered
planking to the preserved remains of the ship's framing, it was possible to assess the
hull's contours through transfer to a lines drawing. The resulting drawings show a
moderately sized vessel with a wide flat bottom.
In order to place the reconstruction into perspective, archaeological remains of
similar shipwrecks and period iconography were consulted in order to suggest the ship's
type and function. Four shipwrecks were found that have similar construction features to
those on the Ottoman wreck. Three of the wrecks had the same unusual knuckle joints
used in securing futtocks to frames that the Ottoman wreck has, shedding light on design
and construction philosophy of ships in the eastern Mediterranean. The preliminary
analysis of period iconography in conjunction with the remains of similar shipwrecks
indicated that the vessel was a cargo carrier that may have ties to the Ottoman navy.
Four types of ships from the same general period, the felluca, polacre, and shebek were
found to have similar design features to the Ottoman wreck, but the closest iconographic
parallel was the saique, which was a two-masted cargo carrier found in the Black Sea
and the west coast of Turkey between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. | en |
