Professor Lucy Blue is in Egypt with a team of specialists co-directing a project with the Universities of Southampton and Ulster as part of the MarEA (Endangered Maritime Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa) project.  Together with experts from the Universities of Alexandria and Mersa Matruh, Egypt they are utilizing satellite imagery and other technologies to explore the western section of the north African coastline of Egypt.  This approach has revealed an extraordinary number of ancient sites, many dating back over 2,000 years. The findings shed new light on the rich maritime history of the region, including trade, settlement, and cultural interactions along the Mediterranean coast. This large-scale survey is crucial for documenting and preserving vulnerable archaeological sites, many of which are under threat from modern development and environmental changes. 

Speaking with members of the team, including Dr Nicholas Ray, MarEA, Ulster University and Dr Ziad Morsy and Hagar Wafik from the Centre of Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage, University of Alexandria, and Dr. Basma Khalili, a ceramic expert from the University of Mersa Matruh, we learn that the project has uncovered remarkable archaeological finds from pottery production sites to rock-cut tombs. Some of the discovered sites span several kilometres, highlighting the scale of these ancient settlements and hinting at the vibrant trade networks of the time. 

MarEA is a research project based in the University of Southampton and partners in University of Ulster, funded by Arcadia and the NW Egypt coastal survey is largely funded by the Honor Frost Foundation.

 Professor Lucy Blue is in Naples speaking with Pierre Poveda (Center Camille Jullian, CNRS), a maritime archaeologist who is co-leading, with his colleague Franca Cibecchini (DRASSM, french ministry of Culture), the excavation of a shipwreck lying in French waters between Cannes and the Île Sainte-Marguerite, home to Fort Royal. The wreck dating to around 180 BC is well preserved, with its entire port side buried beneath masses of dead roots of Posidonia seagrass. A few small wooden artefacts, including writing tablets have been recovered, as well as Italian amphorae that were transporting wine. Despite its hidden location the site has proven vulnerable to looting, and Pierre shares the dramatic story surrounding approximately 100 amphorae taken mostly from the wreck and also from other archaeological sites.  Further seasons of work are planned, with the goal of displaying the finds at the Museum of Fort Royal offering the public a closer look at these ancient maritime treasures and the ship’s role in Mediterranean trade. 

 

The excavation of the Hellenistic wreck Fort-Royal 1 is being carried out under the joint direction of Franca Cibecchini (Drassm - Ministry of Culture) and Pierre Poveda (CCJ-CNRS-AMU), who offer the following thanks:

We would also like to thank the City of Cannes, and our collaborators: the Institut Arkaia (Aix marseille Université), the Musée départemental Arles antique (MdAa), the MAC-Centre d'Arqueologia Subaquàtica de Catalunya (CASC), the Scoop Ipso Facto and, of course, all those involved in the excavation: archaeologists and members of the Alfred Merlin crew. 

 Travel with Professor Lucy Blue to the village of Imbotero, Guyana to meet Dr Robert (Bob) Holtzman an expert in traditional boatbuilding to learn about the Warrau dugout canoe. Twice daily tides in the tropical mangrove swamp mean canoes are essential for survival of the indigenous Warrau people.  Not only are they used for transportation, but also for foraging in the forest for land crabs, fishing and visiting neighbours. Over two field seasons Bob paddled around the villages in a canoe observing how the Warrau connect to their environment and fashion their canoes. Learn how these canoes - that can be up to 10 meters long, are hollowed out of a single tree trunk using chainsaws and adzes by skilled artisans.  And, why a consistent thickness achieved by eye, feel and even sound is crucial to the final stages when it is placed over a fire to expand the wood allowing it to be spread apart without cracking, capturing the boat making techniques of this art before they are lost in the tide of modernisation.  

Professor Lucy Blue delves into the wreck of The London, a 17th century warship, with diver and licensee Steve Ellis.  The ship exploded and sank in the Thames Estuary in 1665 and was rediscovered in 2005 when a ports authority survey was being conducted.  Since 2010, Steve has been directing the survey of the vessel and recovering artefacts with permission from Historic England.  A Second Rate vessel in the English Navy, The London was carrying 76 guns and a mix of over 300 crew and family readying to join a fleet preparing to fight in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, when tragedy struck. This significant archaeological site offers insights into 17th-century naval warfare, however despite it being a protected wreck of great historic value, there has been little funding or support from government sources. Over 1200 finds have been recovered and Steve will reveal his most recent discovery that is truly remarkable.

A special thanks to Mark Beattie-Edwards and the Save the London campaign for their wonderful support in helping to continue to dive this site. 

Find out more about the London Shipwreck Project here: https://www.facebook.com/TheLondonShipwreckproject

To donate, please visit the project website: https://thelondonshipwreckproject.com/save-the-london/

Professor Lucy Blue speaks with associate Professor in Egyptology, Dr Claire Somaglino from the Sorbonne, about two decades of excavation at the site of Ayn Soukhna at the northern end of the Red Sea in the Gulf of Suez. During Pharaonic times, this important site was occupied over an extensive period, as not only was it close to the important centre of Memphis, but there was a spring, an oasis with trees and a sheltered anchorage, making it a perfect harbour.  Rock inscriptions led to its discovery and seasons of excavation have revealed it was a hive of activity with workshops, dwellings, redox furnaces for processing ore and galleries housing some of the oldest seagoing vessels in the world.  Discover how the boats were used to bring food to the mining areas of the South Sinai and returned with copper ore required for making tools and precious turquoise, which was fashioned into jewellery prized by the Pharaohs.      

Ayn Soukhna is an Egyptian-French excavation (dir. C. Somaglino, M. El-Weshahi), supported by : IFAO, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Suez Canal University, and the Honor Frost Foundation. 

Recorded live on the island of Cyprus, Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Constantinos Nicolaou a leading expert in Cypriot traditional boat building. Costantinos recently headed up a training workshop hosted by the Honor Frost Foundation’s Cyprus Regional Development Project, that brought together experts from the eastern Mediterranean region working on traditional boat recording.  Costantinos directs a project that documents the remaining working boats in Cyprus and maps out different topologies and the influences that have shaped Cypriot vernacular boat building over time.  Hear how by looking at this development you learn about the history of the island, including the islands independence from British colonial rule and the Turkish invasion, and how these events changed boat shape construction. Is there a boat construction history on the island? What is the legacy of boat building in Cyprus?  Costantinos also reveals how his interviews with living boat builders, has further exposed their contribution to the history of vernacular boat building on the island.  

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.