After the excavation of the 9th-century AD merchantman from Bozburun, Turkey, from 1995 to 1998, examination of the preserved hull material revealed a method of using dowels embedded in the plank edge to join hull planking together. This method has not previously been recorded in the early medieval Mediterranean. The article discusses the characteristics of the joints in the hull planking of the Bozburun vessel, and considers its role in the transition from the shell-first to frame-first methods of assembly.

During the study of the 9th-century-AD vessel from Bozburun, Turkey, this author applied Richard Steffy's methodology which emphasizes the comprehensive deconstruction and step-by-step re-assembly of a vessel. This methodology, in turn, illuminated how the Bozburun ship was assembled and designed, and how this design process created particular components of the hull. This article discusses this design process, and how by understanding it we may also understand more about the people who made the Bozburun vessel.T he excavation of the 9th-century-AD vessel from Bozburun, Turkey, began in 1995 and continued over four summer seasons until 1998. In addition to a small collection of personal items and a cargo of amphoras, approximately 30% of the vessel's hull was excavated, raised, and studied over the following years. It was assembled with an oak keel, stem and sternpost, a mixture of oak and pine floortimbers and futtocks, and predominantly oak planking (Harpster, 2005a: 93). In addition to the treenails and iron nails, spikes and forelock bolts which held the majority of the hull together, small wooden pegs also fixed some of the hull's planks together edge-to-edge (Harpster, 2005a: 89-91). A comprehensive analysis of the hull's fragments revealed that after the keel, stem and sternpost were assembled, the shipwright and builders next erected floor-timbers 5, 1, E and midships and tail-frames 16 and L before fixing any planks in place. Following this step, however, the shipwright and builders completed the hull in a more piecemeal fashion. A plank or two would be added, then a floor-timber, another plank, perhaps a futtock, and so on. The resulting hull was approximately 14 m long overall, 5 m in beam at the waterline and 2 m deep. It had a small galley near the stern, a small cabin aft of that, and most likely carried a single lateen rig and two quarter-rudders (Figs 1-2). This re-creation, however, only represents part of the archaeological investigation of a hull. We have a description of what happened and what the final product may have looked like, but we do not know how it happened. We know nothing of the cultural context surrounding this ship's construction. A tool is needed, therefore, to provide additional insight; essentially to act as an algorithm that creates a cultural model when presented with a reassembly of a hull. In an effort to understand better the cultural processes surrounding the construction of the Bozburun hull, the methods proposed by Richard Steffy became this tool because they did more than emphasize the codification of a ship's hull as their goal. Instead, because Steffy perceived shipconstruction as a cultural process much like any other, he understood that it would be possible to decipher the human activities within that process by understanding how the hull was assembled, step-by-step (Steffy, 1994: 214).One result of applying Steffy's methodology to the Bozburun hull was a re-creation of the hull's assembly summarized above. But this application also led to entirely new questions. ...

Siraf is well-known archaeologically and historically as an ancient port in the Persian Gulf that prospered during the medieval period. Siraf played a leading role in facilitating maritime and terrestrial trade, connecting long-distance Indian Ocean and China routes with those in the Gulf region. Despite its history, no previous research has been dedicated to the maritime infrastructure of Siraf. Through the '2012 Siraf pilot project' a preliminary survey of the underwater and shoreline remains of this ancient port city was conducted. The site's location is unique in many respects to trade routes and logistical considerations; however, its maritime infrastructure is difficult to assess in light of the extensive threats to the site.

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