Underwater Archaeology Field School. Presentation by Sara.

1. Sara Spatafore
Session 9
October 24, 2012

2. Anchor Anatomy

3. Stone Anchors
 Earliest anchors used and still in use today
 Made up composite anchors used to take wooden anchor
down
 Buoy and Mooring anchors
 Fishing gear
 Weighed down nets
 Recycled Stones

4. Types of Stone Anchors
 No Hole
 May have groove cut around (waisted)
 One Hole
 2nd Millenium B.C.
 Two Holes
 One hole for rope and other for anchor
 Classical (3 Holes)

5. Wood-Stone Combination
 Wood and stone were used together to create different
types of anchors

6. Stocked Anchors
 In use since at least 500 B.C. based on Persian coinage
 Stocks set at right angle to flukes to force them to dig
into the seabed to increase anchor weight and holding
 Iron, lead, or wood

7. Advancements with metal
 Bronze age led to the inclusion of
metal in anchors
 Lead stocks and collars
 Lead lined wooden anchors
 Wooden anchors dipped in molten
lead
 Lead filled wooden anchors
 Hallowed wooden anchors filled
with molten lead

8. Evolution of Roman Anchor Shapes
 A: Roman Republic
 509 B.C.
 B: Early Roman Empire
 82 B.C.
 C: Roman Empire
 27 B.C.
 D: End of Roman Period
 284-476 A.D.
 E: Byzantine

10. Nemi Ships
 Created under Caligula dating to 1st
Century A.D.
 Pleasure barges?
 Fishermen
 Grappling hooks to salvage
pieces
 1446: Cardinal Colonna and Leon
Battista Alberti
 Ropes that damaged planks covered
in lead sheeting
 1535: Francesco de Marchi dove
using diving bell
 Bricks, marble paving stones,
bronze, copper, lead artifacts, and
timber beams

11. Nemi Ships Continued
 Between 1928 and 1932 Nemi lake
was drained
 Before discovery of the anchors the
composition had been heavily
debated
 The ships were constructed between
the periods when iron anchors were
replacing wooden ones
 Two Anchors:
 Oak with iron-tipped flukes and
stock of lead
 Iron with folding timber stock
 Looked much like Admiralty
anchors reinvented in the 19th
century

13. Port of
Sanijta
Anchors

15. Importance to Archaeology
 The shape of an anchor can help date shipwrecks and
indicate the ship’s origins
 An anchor could be an indication of a shipwreck or
one that had to be detached from the ship
 The size and weight of an anchor indicates the size and
type of a ship

16. Works Cited
 Pere
 http://biganchorproject.com/
 http://www.abc.se/~pa/bld/anchors.htm
 http://www.abc.se/~pa/mar/nemships.htm
 Gay, Jacques. Six Millénaires d'histoire des ancres.
Paris: University of Paris Sarbonne, 1997. Print.