Dive & Dig Honor Frost Foundation

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Professor Giulia Boetto from the French National Centre for Scientific Research about what is possibly the oldest fully hand-sewn boat to be discovered in the Mediterranean. First spotted by fisherman in Zambratija Bay off a beach in northern Croatia, closer examination by archaeologists revealed small holes in the planks. Could this be a boat sewn together rather than built by the more common mortise and tendon method?  Hear how French and Croatian researchers set about to date the boat, initially using carbon-14 dating, revealing it is likely to date from around the end of the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. It has since been raised and is now in Croatia, but is heading to conservation labs in Grenoble, France where it will undergo treatments before it returns to Croatia to be displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula.   

Prof. Boetto would like to thank the following people for work on the project: 
Christian Petretich, Ida Koncani Uhač, Marko Uhač, the team of the Archaeological Museum of Istria, in particular the restorers Andrea Sardoz and Monika Petrović, Pierre Poveda, Vincent Dumas, Loïc Damelet, Philippe Soubias, Philippe Groscaux, Kato Nees, Alba Ferreira Domìnguez, and Henri Bernard-Maugiron.

The main supporters: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Region of Istria, Archaeological Museum of Istria, Pula (special thanks to - Darko Komšo, director of the museum), Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, France, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France, Mediterranean Archaeology Institute - ARKAIA, Aix-Marseille University.

Professor Lucy Blue speaks with archaeologist Dr Harald Lübke from the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology about a recent discovery in the Baltic Sea off Germany that may be Europe’s oldest human-made underwater megastructure. Christened the ‘Blinkerwall’, it’s a continuous low wall made of hundreds of granite stones that stretches for around a kilometre. Could it have been constructed by hunter-gathers more than 10,000 years ago and if so, what was its purpose? Hear how by bringing together archaeologists, geophysicists and experts in landscape reconstruction the team is piecing together a now submerged landscape that was very different than the one today.

The project team includes:
Maine Geophysics: Peter Feldens, IOW & Jens Schneider von Deimling, CAU Kiel
Marine Geology: Jacob Geersen, IOW
Archaeology: Jens Auer, LaKD MV, Marcel Bradtmöller, Univ. Rostock, & Harald Lübke, LEIZA

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Mohamed Mustapha Abd El-Maguid, from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt.  An expert in ancient ship construction, he has installed a reconstruction of a late Roman-early Byzantine ship in the recently re-opened Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, Egypt.  The pearl of the Mediterranean, Alexandria was the centre of trade and commerce. To illustrate the city’s importance in trade during ancient times, Mohamed was asked to use amphora from the museum store dating from the Roman period and place them in a reconstructed section of the cargo hold of a ship. Hear how together with the craftsmen at the shipyard he has beautifully reconstructed a boat based on the Saint Gervais 3 wreck of a similar period found in southern France.  Allowing students to see the ship take shape using the shell-first method of construction with mortise-and-tenon joints, gave them a chance to truly appreciate the craftsmanship and creativity of a Roman ship builder. 

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Crystal el Safadi who has recently recovered from a series of unfortunate events sailing the Kyrenia- Liberty.  It is the third replica reconstruction of the 4th-century BC Greek merchant ship discovered in 1965 off the coast of northern Cyprus.  Built in 2002, it has been on several voyages, however this one in September last year proved to be challenging.  As part of the Eastern Mediterranean Experimental Sailing project, Crystal and her team set sail from Limassol only to encounter unexpected weather conditions.  Find out what happened and what they have learned from the experience.  

To learn more about the Kyrenia-Liberty and the on-going repair work, please visit the Facebook page dedicated to the ship. 

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Chris Dobbs who has been working at the Mary Rose Trust for over 40 years, initially as an Archaeological Supervisor excavating King Henry VIII’s flagship off Portsmouth and in the last few decades as Head of Interpretation at the Mary Rose Museum. Believing that you need to tell the stories behind the objects and the people who used them, he uses smells and sounds to help bring the Tudor artefacts alive and bring maritime archaeology to the larger public. He was instrumental in developing the new immersive 4D cinema experience that is enabling visitors to join divers and discover ship via archive footage.  

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Professor Dave Parham from Bournemouth University who has been diving on the remains of 1944 Valentine Tank assemblage in Poole Bay. Made buoyant by the addition of a canvas skirt they proved essential in getting armoured support onto the beach during the historic D-Day landings.  Scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act means they are protected by law. On a recent inspection the turret on one tank was found to have been pulled off.  There were no obvious clues as to the culprit, so the police were called in to help solve this crime.  Who did it? How can such sites be policed? Can you help solve this crime?  Learn more about the importance of these tanks that sank in bad weather during Exercise Smash in the run-up to this historic manoeuvre.