Gyptis and the Archaic Greek Sewn‐boat Technique

Abstract

The archaic Greco‐Massaliote wreck Jules‐Verne 9 is a fully sewn boat with all the elements (planking and frames) assembled by ligatures. The remains of some stitches found in place allowed the system of ligatures, which is particularly sophisticated, to be precisely reproduced. This assembly system made of sewing and lashings was used during the construction of Gyptis, the sailing replica of the Jules‐Verne 9 wreck. The experience permitted many questions to be answered about the assembly process, function, and maintenance of the boat.

Sewn‐Plank Reconstructions of Oman: construction and documentation

“…It is recommended that sewing histories be undertaken for other sewn‐plank vessel reconstructions in the future, either as a sampling or more systematically for the entire vessel, in order to provide a broader database of comparison for different methods of sewing boats together. For example, it would be interesting to compare stitching histories of the Mediterranean methods utilized for the Gyptis reconstruction (Pomey and Poveda, , ) with those of Omani reconstructions detailed above.…”

Archaeological, Historical, and Ethnographic Approaches to the Study of Sewn Boats: past, present, and future

“…Since its launch, Gyptis has undergone a series of extended sea trials, and is still undertaking trips at sea at the time of publication, providing a wealth of extended data regarding the handling and performance of linen sewn‐plank vessels (Pomey and Poveda, ). It has also provided data regarding the issues of maintaining such vessels over an extended period of time (Pomey and Poveda, ). This is perhaps one of the most completely scientific sewn‐plank archaeological reconstructions to date, with a significant portion of archaeological remains excavated according to best practices, following an extensive process of design, a strong educational ‘knowledge transfer’ component, and extended series of sea trials, all of which has been published in academic publications (Pomey, , ; Pomey and Poveda, , , ).…”