The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology Webinar Series is a great way to hear from some of the worlds leading authors in nautical archaeology. They are broadcast live, online, are interactive, free to watch and even recorded to the NAS YouTube Channel so you can watch them again and again. Discover more here.....

The IJNA Webinar Series is supported by the Honor Frost Foundation

The third live IJNA Webinar took place on Wednesday 2nd October 2019, at Paris 19:00, London 18:00, Abu Dhabi 21:00

IJNA Webinar No.3: Sewn Sailing Hypotheses: What can experimental reconstructions teach us about this ancient boatbuilding technique?



Sewn boats are important for the history of boatbuilding and seagoing. Although wood and fibre are less commonly found on land excavations, underwater, waterlogged, or desiccated conditions have provided archaeological evidence for sewn boats from the 3rd millennia BC, and the technique has been used up to the present day. Added to the growing assemblage of archaeological sewn-boat remains found around the world, written accounts, iconography, ethnography, and experimental archaeology have all been used to further explore this method of boatbuilding.

This discussion will focus on the value of experimental reconstructions using sewn techniques looking at Jewel of Muscat based on the 9th-century AD Belitung wreck, al‐Hariri Boat based in part on 13th-century illustrations, Beyden Seyad based on François‐Edmond Pâris 19th-century record of the sewn Omani fishing vessel, and Gyptis based on Jules-Verne 9, a 6th-century-BC boat excavated in the Greek port of Marseille.

Panellists:

Dr Lucy Blue

is a NAS Vice President and IJNA Advisory Editor, Honor Frost Foundation Archaeological Director and a lecturer in Centre for Maritime Archaeology at Southampton University. In 2015 she co-organized a workshop titled ‘Fibre and Wood: Sewn Boat Construction Techniques through Time’, at the German University of Technology, Oman, which has been published as an IJNA special section. Dr Blue will give us a brief introduction to sewn boat studies summarising her co-authored IJNA article:

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

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1095-9270.12361

Dr Blue was also part of the team that built the Morgawr Bronze Age boat based on the Ferriby boats at the National Maritime Museum Falmouth in 2012-2013: Morgawr: an experimental Bronze Age‐type sewn‐plank craft based on the Ferriby boats (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12058)

Prof. Patrice Pomey

is emeritus Director of Research of the CNRS at the Centre Camille Jullian and Aix-Marseille University. He has studied ship and boat structure throughout a long and prolific career that started, at least under water, with the excavations of the Planier II and Madrague de Giens wrecks in the early 1970s.

He has recently co-authored three IJNA articles, the first with Dr Giulia Boetto discussing Ancient Mediterranean Sewn‐Boat Traditions, (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12337) and two articles with Dr Pierre Poveda about the reconstruction of Jules-Verne 9, a  6th-century-BC sewn boat excavated in the Greek port of Marseille: Gyptis: Sailing Replica of a 6th‐century‐BC Archaic Greek Sewn Boat (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12294) and in the Fibre and Wood collection Gyptis and the Archaic Greek Sewn‐boat Technique (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12368) 

Dr Eric Staples

is assistant professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and his research revolves around the maritime history of Indian Ocean littoral societies, with a particular focus on shipbuilding, seafaring, and navigation including several experimental projects.

He co-organized the Fibre and Wood workshop and has published Sewn‐Plank Reconstructions of Oman: construction and documentation (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12370) looking at the Sohar, Jewel of Muscat, and al‐Hariri Boat projects.

Alessandro Ghidoni

is a doctoral student at Exeter University researching the sewn-plank ship timbers from the Islamic site of Al-Balid, a maritime archaeologist, and a photographer. He was part of the team that documented the Jewel of Muscat project and recently exhibited some his photographs.

At the Fibre and Wood workshop he presented an his work on Building Pâris’ Beden Seyad: a replica of the Omani 19th‐century sewn fishing vessel (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12366)

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IJNA Webinar No.2: Is My Ship a Wreck? Exploring deposition variety

The second live IJNA Webinar took place on Wednesday 24th April 2019, at 14:00 (New York and Fort de France), 19:00 (London) 20:00 (Paris). 

When we think about nautical archaeology, our minds often jump to images of shipwrecks out to sea or along rocky coasts, as a result of misfortune or misadventure. But the remains that nautical archaeologists’ study in harbours, rivers, and estuaries have often been purposefully placed or abandoned, rather than arriving as a result of a catastrophe.

So other than wrecking at sea or sinking in battle, how does a ship become an archaeological deposit? Are there patterns in these rich assemblages of vessels that that can increase our knowledge of maritime activities and trade practices?

The webinar was hosted by the IJNA Editor, Miranda Richardson. Panel members included: 

Damian Robinson (Oxford Centre for Martime Archaeology)

‘The Depositional Contexts of the Ships from Thonis‐Heracleion, Egypt’

Damian Robinson

https://doi.org/10.1111/1095-9270.12321

 

Jean-Sebastien Guibert (University of the Antilles)

‘An Overview of Maritime Archaeological Research of the Colonial Period in the French Antilles’

Jean‐Sébastien Guibert, Max Guérout, Marc Guillaume, Annie Bolle, Fréderic Leroy, Laurence Serra

https://doi.org/10.1111/1095-9270.12336

 

Ellie Graham (Scape, University of St Andrews)

‘The Newshot Island Boat Graveyard: an assemblage of 19th‐century vessels on the Clyde’

Ellie Graham, Tom Dawson, Steve Liscoe, with contributions by Peter Dick

https://doi.org/10.1111/1095-9270.12332

 

Nathan Richards (East Carolina University)

‘The Meyer's Boatyard Vessel, Bermuda: the investigation of an M‐class gunboat built 1876’

Nathan T. Richards, Peter B. Campbell, Calvin Mires, Joseph C. Hoyt

https://doi.org/10.1111/1095-9270.12330

Our line-up of fascinating panelists explored these questions and discussed their research. Each of the panel members had recently published an article in the IJNA, which was made free to download before and after the webinar. The webinar is now available on our YouTube Channel to watch alongside the previous webinar. 

IJNA Webinar No.1: The Archaeology of World War Battleships

The first live IJNA Webinar took place on Wednesday 23rd January at 10.00 (London), 11.00 (Paris), 19.00 (Tokyo) and 21.00 (Sydney) on "The Archaeology of World War Battleships".

A recording of the webinar can now be viewed below or on our YouTube Channel


The webinar was hosted by the IJNA Editor, Miranda Richardson and IJNA Advisory Editor, Dr Jun Kimura. Panel members were intended to be recent IJNA authors, Dr Innes McCartney, Kieran Hosty and Yumiko Nakanishi. Unfortunately Yumiko Nakanishi was unable to present at the last minute and so her presentation was kindly delivered by Dr Jun Kimura. The 100 viewers were able to ask questions of the panel members.

The remains of the First and Second World Wars at sea form a significant part of the ocean’s underwater cultural heritage. Battleship wrecks hold a particular position within this assemblage. As archaeological artefacts they can inform research on naval battles and the conduct of war, technological change, and are a material reflection of world political power dynamics, as well as holding material relating to the lives of those aboard. At the same time, they may be war graves, whether this is recognized in law or not, and, once their locations are identified, sites of commemoration with meaning for the descendants of those lost and the wider public on all sides of these conflicts. Beyond archaeological research, the management of these very particular shared heritage remains, and the conservation of metal wrecks in general holds specific challenges.

In this webinar the panel briefly presented their work with such wrecks (the articles are available Open Access here - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/10959270/2018/47/2, until the end of January 2019.


The IJNA Webinar Series is supported by the Honor Frost Foundation