Promare

Dolia Shipwreck

The Roman Shipwreck of Punta del Nasuto (Elba Island, Tuscany).
Overview of the 2008 Campaign.

Pamela Gambogi, Dante Bartoli, Ayse Atauz, David Scaradozzi

The project took place on September 2-11, 2008 at Punta del Nasuto (1 km West of the harbor of Marciana Marina on the Elba Island and 290 m offshore, Fig. 1) and represents the first attempt in Italy to bring divers 65 m below sea level to excavate an archaeological site using mixed gas (Trimix).  A team of 12 professional divers, led by Dr. Pamela Gambogi of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, began excavating an ancient Roman merchantman that was carrying at least 10 large wine containers, or dolia, each with a capacity of ca. 1,500-1,700 lt. (400-450 gallons). Based on our previous knowledge of dolia carriers, it is presumed that the site also includes a number of amphoras and other artifacts under the 2-m thick layer of sediment covering the wreck. Sedimentation over the site creates an anaerobic environment and protects organic material from decay, thus preserving the shipwreck and its contents.

In March 2008 the NATO Underwater Research Center (NURC) from La Spezia, Italy, dispatched to the shipwreck site an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) equipped with a side-scan sonar and a sub-bottom profiler. The AUV was used to establish the maximum extent of the site, produce a comprehensive site map, and to determine if substantial remains of the cargo and ship are preserved beneath the sediment. The resultant data provided the first comprehensive image with all the dolia visible on the seafloor (Fig. 4), as well as several buried ‘anomalies’ at either end of the site (Fig. 5) that may be amphoras stored at the bow and the stern sections of the ship. The same year the Interuniversity Center for Marine Environment (ISME) of Università Politecnica delle Marche began collaborating at Punta del Nasuto, providing data analysis capabilities and an experimental system to georefernce the site and accurately position its artifacts.

The 2008 Field Season: Preliminary Results

In September 2008 a team consisting of scientists and technicians from the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana, the Interuniversity Center for Marine Environment (ISME), the non-profit organizations Explorer Team Chimera, the firefighters and mooring men of Piombino, and ProMare, brought two water-dredges to the seafloor and began excavating the site using an USBL (Ultra Short Base Line) system for georeferencing the operations. The boats Desideria, Tripesce, and Gulliver, and a zodiac, were used as working platforms for the divers and the two water-dredges (Fig. 6). Thanks to the use of Helium-enriched Trimix, three teams of divers were able to spend 20 minutes on the seafloor per dive, which amounted to 1 hour of work every day.

The divers began excavating into the layer of mud that covers the archaeological remains, documenting and mapping the artifacts. It is now known that the site is 7.5 m long and 4 m wide, that the mouth of one dolium 0.74 m in diameter (including the lips), and that all the dolia openings are oriented in the same North-Eastern direction, as the ship would have been immediately after coming to rest on the seafloor and listing to one side. A custom-built ROV will be used for sediment removal during the 2009 field season since the manual removal of the compact and cohesive mud layer has been time consuming and difficult.

Credits and Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank G. Massimo Giudicelli and Mauro della Monaca, members of the non-profit association Explorer Team Chimera, who successfully led the team of 12 professional divers chosen from the firefighters (Vigili del Fuoco) and mooring men (Cooperativa Ormeggiatori) of Piombino. The deepest thanks go to their colleagues Paolo Bartalini, Stefano Cipriani, Ivan Ferrari, Roberto Ferrari, and Giorgio Tinagli, along with Paolo Volpe Rinonapoli, diver of the Soprintendenza’s Nucleo Archeologico Subacqueo. It has been a great pleasure working with them in the field, due to their professionalism, courtesy, and great sense of humor. A special thanks goes to Dr. Mario Zampolli of the NATO Underwater Research Center in La Spezia for the images of the side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler images, to the City Council of Marciana Marina for the help provided during the field work, to Enrico Petigax (Wild Tuna Cruises) for the boat he kindly provided to the expedition, and to Stefano Dallera for his IT skills and photographs.

Click here for information about the Dolia Shipwreck.