Contrary to the traditional shipbuilding method, the frames of the ancient ship were not fastened to the keel. The assembly of the hull planking was achieved through an intricate method of mortise and tenons, while the frames were secured to the planks with bronze nails driven through treenails. The whole keel, most of the strakes of the hull planking and the frames had been preserved, as well as small portions of the stem-post and stern-post, while numerous construction details were visible. But there were many more questions that needed to be answered : how would a ship with a rocked keel behave, and what about the lack of caulking, and the use of the steering oars and of a single square sail ?ĦWhat led me to decide on attempting the construction of a replica of that particular ship was that some 75 % of the timber of ancient wreck’s hull had been retrieved and preserved. It should be stressed that the shipbuilders were sceptical as to the possibility of building a ship by first setting the planks of the hull and only later fastening the frames to the planking.ĥThe challenge was great since for the last 1,500 years ships in the Mediterranean have been built “skeleton first”. They enthusiastically accepted to put at the disposal of the project all information they had acquired during more than a decade of work on the ancient ship and to assist in the construction of the replica.ĤI was well aware of the difficulties that we had to face, the most challenging being the assembly of the hull using the “shell first” method. I then contacted Michael Katzev, the excavator of the Kyrenia shipwreck, and his wife Susan Womer Katzev, who had participated in all the phases of the project, and then later Richard Steffy, who had reassembled the ancient hull and was a world-renowned specialist on ancient shipbuilding. I described to Manolis what would be required for the construction of an “ancient ship” abiding by the rules of experimental archaeology. I first contacted Manolis Psarros, a reputed boat builder in Perama, whose family is originally from the island of Symi and has for generations built traditional wooden boats. The Kyrenia II projectģDuring the summer of 1981, after a careful evaluation of all the information gathered on the ancient shipwreck of Kyrenia, I decided to investigate the possibilities of building a full-scale replica of that Greek merchantman. What I intend to present here is a brief story of how and to what extent I was involved in all three projects.ĢI would like to dedicate this short article to Patrice Pomey, who followed the different stages of the construction of the Kyrenia II, participated as scientist-observer during the navigation from Piraeus to Cyprus and expressed a deep interest in our first attempt at nautical experimental archaeology. In fact, the results of the Kyrenia II, the papyrella and the Athenian trireme projects have been extensively published 1. To do so would require much more than the limited space of an article. 1 See the selected bibliography at the end of this contribution.ġIt is not my intention in this article to analyse the three projects in nautical experimental archaeology that were conducted in Greece during the decade of the 1980s.
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