Abstract
During the 2019 underwater excavation season of the Ma‘agan Mikhael B shipwreck (mid-7th–mid-8th centuries AD), an unattached hook-shaped masthead fitting with sheaves was discovered and retrieved. This remarkable and rare find is a type of fitting characteristic of lateen-rigged vessels, and is an addition to the assembly of rigging elements, such as blocks and ropes and the mast-step assembly, found and documented in previous seasons. Pieces of fabric, which might be remnants of the sail, were also found. These finds allowed the rig of the ship to be reconstructed and shed new light on eastern Mediterranean sailing during Late Antiquity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 291-302 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | International Journal of Nautical Archaeology |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Sep 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The underwater excavations (IAA permits G‐41/2016, G‐40/2017, G‐26/2018 and G‐34/2019) and research of the Ma‘agan Mikhael B shipwreck are supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 1891/16), the Honor Frost Foundation, a Dov Shafir Fellowship, a Natan Rotenstreich Scholarship, a Sir Maurice Hatter Fellowship, the Research Authority of the University of Haifa, Kibbutz Ma‘agan Mikhael, and anonymous donors, to whom the authors are grateful. The authors would like to thank E. Rieth, Y. Palzur and K. Batchvarov for their input and advice, and J.B. Tresman for the English editing. We are grateful for the valuable comments made by the referees.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2020 The Nautical Archaeology Society.
Keywords
- Late Antiquity
- Mediterranean
- lateen-rigged
- masthead
- turning blocks
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oceanography
- History
- Archaeology
- Paleontology