A Roman Ship Scuttled near Salona in the Gulf of Kaštela, Croatia: Excavation, Reconstruction and Analysis

dc.contributor.advisorPulak, Cemal M
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCarlson, Deborah N
dc.contributor.committeeMemberRadić Rossi, Irena
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSchwartz, Daniel L
dc.creatorRuff, David Grady
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-06T22:56:42Z
dc.date.available2021-01-06T22:56:42Z
dc.date.created2020-05
dc.date.issued2020-03-13
dc.date.submittedMay 2020
dc.date.updated2021-01-06T22:56:42Z
dc.description.abstractSalona (near present-day Split, Croatia), originally an Illyrian city with Greek presence along the eastern Adriatic coast, was conquered by Republican Rome in 76 BCE. Based on its central location in Roman Dalmatia, coupled with a protected harbor in the eastern Gulf of Kaštela and a connection to the hinterlands through the mountain pass of Klis, Salona was the natural choice for the location of the provincial capital. In 2002, the recovery of a 1000-liter perforated dolium in the Trstenik section of Kaštel Sućurac, only three kilometres from the ancient city walls of Salona, attracted the attention of archaeologists to significant Roman remains submerged near shore. In 2006 the outline of a wooden ship was identified, scuttled alongside a submerged wooden wall. In 2015, the ship was uncovered, labelled, recorded using photogrammetry, extensively sampled, then reburied for preservation in situ. Without completely excavating the wreck, obtaining detailed measurements of all its timbers and conserving the wood remains, the analysis of the wreck and the reconstruction of the hull would depend on its investigation using various computer methods. First, a 3-D model of the ship’s remains was generated using Agisoft PhotoScan. Based on this archaeological data, site plans were generated in ArcGIS to document the wreck. Analysis of the hull remains determined the ship to be a flat-floored, mortise-and-tenon constructed ship, dated to approximately the late 1st century CE and suitable for transport of heavy cargo, reflecting the apex of Imperial Rome’s influence on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. A reconstruction of the ship’s hull was undertaken in the Rhinoceros 3D modelling program by combining preserved hull curvatures, the full extent of wooden remains exposed on the seabed, and hypothetical hull height based on a review of contemporaneous ships. The Rhinoceros plug-in modules utilized to perform this reconstruction include an iterative draft and displacement calculator, which estimates the Trstenik ship displaced approximately 25 tons. This technique is suitable for extrapolation to other ancient wrecks recorded only by photogrammetry.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/191845
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectRoman Dalmatiaen
dc.subjectTrsteniken
dc.subjectKaštel Sućuracen
dc.subjectKaštelaen
dc.subjectRoman shipen
dc.subjectexcavationen
dc.subjectphotogrammetryen
dc.subjectship reconstructionen
dc.titleA Roman Ship Scuttled near Salona in the Gulf of Kaštela, Croatia: Excavation, Reconstruction and Analysisen
dc.typeThesisen
dc.type.materialtexten
local.etdauthor.orcid0000-0003-0879-4397
thesis.degree.departmentAnthropologyen
thesis.degree.disciplineAnthropologyen
thesis.degree.grantorTexas A&M Universityen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
RUFF-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf
Size:
14.68 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Permission for Figure 5-1.pdf
Size:
87.98 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
6.31 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description: