Ancient Ports and Shipping

Summary
Research on Mediaeval Inland Harbours between
Rhine and Danube
This paper presents ongoing and completed research within the framework of the
„Inland Harbours Project“ at Jena University. Five case studies – Karlburg, Salz,
Ratisbon, Frankfurt on the Main, and the Fossa Carolina – illustrate how archaeological, geo-archaeological, and historical methods can help to identify harbour structures
and historical riverbanks as well as transport networks. Previous work on mediaeval
navigation was usually focussed on maritime harbours as well as early mediaeval
emporia and often lacked interdisciplinary approaches. Because inland waters and
especially rivers may have changed their course dramatically throughout history,
it is essential to combine archaeological and historical methods and sources with
geo-archaeological and other natural scientific methods. This enables the accurate
reconstruction of the historical terrain relief and hydrological situations and correct interpretation of potential archaeological features of harbour installations. Additionally,
the meaning and function of a harbour can only be understood by studying its location
on a local scale within its related urban topography and harbour-related infrastructure
(e. g. castles), and on a regional and superregional scale within its topographical and
political framework. Research within the „Inland Harbours Project“ shows that even
in the High and Late Middle Ages, harbours did not necessarily need constructive
installations to land boats, which leads to the question of whether bank revetments
and quays were initially a response to land reclamation.
The two early mediaeval centres of Karlburg on the river Main and Salz at the
Frankish Saale illustrate how methods of archaeology and geo-archaeology can be
combined to receive evidence-based results of the former river courses and the terrain. For Karlburg, the hypothesis of a mediaeval harbour basin, which is based on a
historical map from the 19th century, has been revised. The results of archaeological
excavations, geological drillings, and surveys allowed the location of the mediaeval
river bank at a distance of 2 km up to 100 metres west of the modern river. Because no
harbour constructions were found, a natural landing site can be assumed. In contrast
to Karlburg, a wide range of geo-archaeological methods showed the stable position of the Frankish Saale in Salz from the Neolithic to the Early and High Middle
Ages. Being part of the royal palace complex Salz, located in the deserted riverine
settlement Mühlstatt, people lived on an elevated, flood-safe position on a calcitecemented gravel layer/alluvial fan. A simple, naturally formed landing site with a
gently sloping embankment could be reconstructed.
The ongoing research of the mediaeval harbour in Ratisbon is focussed on the
analysis of different small rescue excavations along the modern river bank and the
analysis of a huge urban excavation at Regensburg „Donaumarkt“. Because of the
excellent preservation of archaeological features, many scientific methods such as
dendrochronology, radiocarbon dating, archaebotany, and archaeozoology are used
to analyse the development of the mediaeval waterfront in light of inland navigation
Forschungen zu den mittelalterlichen Binnenhäfen zwischen Rhein und Donau 245
and urban development. Early results of the Donaumarkt excavation revealed that
the river bank from the 9th and 10th century was located 20 metres further inland.
Moreover, a navigable side arm or canal was detected parallel to the main arm of
the Danube that was used until the 11th or 12th century. In contrast to Karlburg and
Salz, different types of bank revetments have been documented such as wattle work,
stones, and wooden poles. The whole Danube river bank was used for navigation and
may have had special functional zones that were associated with the landward urban
topography.
An exceptional example for the construction of mediaeval inland harbours is a
quay wall of the 13th/14th century that was discovered in 2012 at the mediaeval Saalhof castle in Frankfurt on the Main. The quay made of stone and wood is located at the
court wall of a mediaeval water castle from the 12th and 13th century (the Saalhof).
The quay is two metres wide and paved, and it ran parallel to the court wall of the
Saalhof. Based on urban topography, the Saalhof castle was located in the commercial
heart of the town, framed by the most important streets. The Saalhof castle worked
as a seat of royal and later civil administration. Because of its location on a natural
alluvial land tongue that reached several metres into the river Main, it was suitable for
controlling navigation and trade. With regard to the water castle of Kaiserswerth on
the Rhine, the function of water toll collection is discussed. Mediaeval castles seem
to have been of great importance to delineate royal territory and to control and defend
important trade routes for inland navigation.
The rivers Danube and Main remain among the most important routes for inland
navigation today. Attempts to connect both river systems to bridge the European watershed were carried out in the Early Middle Ages by Charlemagne in 793 AD, who
initiated an ambitious canal project – the Fossa Carolina. Written sources describe
building the canal in detail as well as its failure. The constructive details of the threekilometre long canal and the question of its completion are the focus of an ongoing
project, „Fossa Carolina“, which combines archaeological and geo-archaeological
methods. Fieldwork showed that huge parts of the canal were buried under colluvial
sediments shortly after the digging, and they were never removed afterwards. Together
with the canal’s missing southern connection to the river Altmühl, this suggests that
the canal was really never finished. However, at least some parts of the approximately
five-metre wide canal fairway were ready to use and may have been navigable. The
banks of the canal were fixed with wooden embankments to prevent erosion. The
shallowest water depth was approximately 0.5 metres, which would have allowed
navigation by early mediaeval flat-bottomed ships.

"The presentation gives preliminary information on the shipwrecks of the submerged Egyptian city of Heracleion-Thonis excavated by the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology (IEASM). Underwater surveys started in 1996 in the Bay of Abukir allowed determining the outline of the submerged Canopic region, the circumstances and chronology of its submersion. From the 8th century B.C.E., this town was the custom and border post, and the emporion which controlled access to the Canopic channel, traded with the Greek regions and supervised foreign ships. More than sixty ships dating from the 6th to the 2nd centuries B.C.E. were discovered in the port regions and in the canals of the city bringing evidence on the intense maritime and fluvial activity in this coastal region. Initial analysis of the distribution of the ships of Heracleion-Thonis and some observations on their constructional peculiarities and on the choice of the building material is proposed. Ship 17 of Heracleion-Thonis is the first vessel to be excavated and is thoroughly analysed in the PhD thesis of A.Belov entitled ‘Studies of the Egyptian naval architecture of the Late Period. New archaeological evidence and an attempt at a 3D reconstruction’, which will be examined at the University of Bordeaux in autumn 2013. The ship shows many similarities with the description by Herodotus of the Egyptian river-going ship ‘baris’ (Histories, 2.96, c.450 BC).

David FABRE
Doctor in Egyptology, Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier III (France)
European Institute for Underwater Archaeology
fabre.david@free.fr

Alexandre BELOV
Center for Egyptological Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences
European Institute for Underwater Archaeology
belov.alexandre@gmail.com 
"

Excavations at Burgaz in southwest Turkey have brought to light a seaside settlement that flourished with maritime activity from the Archaic period through Late Antiquity (ca. 700 BC - AD 650). The home of the ancient Knidians before their move 30 km west to the tip of the Datça peninsula, Burgaz underwent significant transformation in the 4th c. BC, when workshops and industrial zones replaced domestic quarters and public spaces. This shift was concurrent with the expansion of the port city of Knidos as the regional and international center of religious and cultural life. Archaeological explorations of Burgaz’s four harbors since 2011 suggest that in its foundation and initial development, the town served as an entrepôt for communication and agricultural exchange with links around the southeast Aegean. Shifts in the maritime landscape are likewise evident here in the 4th c., when Burgaz’s earliest harbor was left to silt as infrastructure development centered on port facilities a few hundred meters away boasting new agricultural processing installations and ceramic workshops. These contemporaneous developments and the broader reorganization of socioeconomic activity on the peninsula intersect with increasingly international networks of the late Classical and early Hellenistic era. Once at the edge of its maritime region around the Gulf of Hisarönü, Knidos now found itself straddling the much more heavily trafficked lines of communication between the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. Tied into these farther-flung networks, it was more desirable as the preeminent cultural and probably also the business hub, even as the best agricultural lands allowed Burgaz to continue flourishing as the peninsula’s economic engine.
Through its evolving fortunes and dynamic maritime landscape—including continued use and expansion of its facilities even as the civic body relocated to Knidos—Burgaz offers a long-term perspective on maritime networks and raises crucial questions about the socioeconomic rationale for the location of port development and shipping routes in antiquity. What social, political, environmental or other motivations are behind the relocation of network hubs, and how do such events unfold with respect to differing positions within Mediterranean connectivity? What drove residents in the fertile center of the Datça peninsula to expand their maritime horizon by capitalizing on rich lands, raw materials, and ceramic production rather than resigning themselves to oblivion once deprived of their earlier civic, religious, and military centrality? How do the technology, design, and utilization of facilities shift with new economic opportunities and broadening maritime horizons? The growing appreciation of harbors as active agents in the construction of multifaceted networks—“nodes of density in the matrix of connectivity” (Horden & Purcell 2000)—offers the chance to look outward at the intersection of one dynamic maritime landscape with broader developments in the connections that set the rhythm of Mediterranean cultural life. The historical, geographical and archaeological setting makes Burgaz one such ideal lens through which to explore Mediterranean connectivity and shifting centers of maritime activity concurrent with regional sociopolitical, economic and technological development, maritime network internationalism, as well as catastrophic and gradual local environmental pressure.

The fortunes of Byzantine Constantinople always have been intrinsically tied to the sea. Topographical, demographical and economical development of the city is reflected in the history of their harbours, which for the first time is concerned in its entirety in this volume.
Twelve studies regarding the city's the harbours and landing stages at the sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn - but as well regarding those in their European as in their Asian surroundings - are creating a synthesis of the current state of research by analysis of written, pictorial and archaeological sources.

3D documentation of shipwrecks embedded in sea-floor sediments, and not visible above it, is potentially an important aspect of maritime archaeological survey and management. Known shipwrecks embedded in the sea floor have been registered in 3D as part of 3D chirp-system research, which focussed on these specific features. But this method is expensive, time-consuming and complicated to handle. This presentation will discuss a development in the direction of a faster, cheaper and less complicated method, consisting of Chirp acquisition in a rather dense 2D grid that need not be regular. The presentation is based on the results of ongoing survey work in the Akko Harbour area, off the Carmel Coast, Israel. The results show that the hull of the detected shipwreck, and its shape, can be nicely identified and that sedimentary units bounding the hull can be outlined and interpreted. Based on an interpretation of the outline of the curved hull, the depth was measured, and a 3D image of the shipwreck produced. Samples of the subsea floor have been obtained from the area, and the one located with the extent of the mapped shipwreck contained wood fragments. The presentation shows that 2D surveying is an alternative to 3D surveying, as it is cheaper, faster, less complicated to operate, less sensitive to weather conditions and can produce good results.

The sixth season of the Russian Underwater Archaeological Mission to Alexandria has been carried out by the Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences from 04 to 19 May, 2015. 
The main goals of this season included localisation of the shipwreck of  French transport vessel ‘Le Patriote’ (1798) shipwrecked at the entrance to the West port of Alexandria and continuation of the reconnaissance of the second line of the submerged reefs situated at a distance of 1 kilometer from the shoreline looking for potential vestiges of ancient navigation.

The fifth season of the Russian Underwater Archaeological Mission to Alexandria has been carried out by the Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences from 05 to 29 May, 2014. 
The main goals of the season included attesting the state of preservation and mapping of the breakwater charted by G. Jondet at the beginning of the 20th century, the reconnaissance of the line of the reefs closing the Bay of Anfushi, the reconnaissance of the second line of the submerged reefs situated at a distance of 1 kilometer from the shoreline, the reconnaissance of the reefs in  Agami region and, finally, trying to find an error in the positioning of the points as per the data of the side-scan sonar surveys of 2011 and 2013.

This study which focuses on the ancient port within the borders of Ptolemais ancient city in Pamphylia, has emerged from the data obtained by various studies conducted by various researchers in separative periods. The strategic and commercial potentials of the port, the foundation date of which was determined as Ptolemaios II Philadelphos, have ben evaluated comparatively in an archaeological sense.