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Table 21. Percentage of marble carriers lost at sea, listed in chronological order.
Shipwrecks’
Date
Shipwrecks
#
Percentage
#
I cent. B.C. 3 15%
I cent. A.D. 4 20%
II cent. A.D. 2 10%
III cent. A.D. 8 40%
IV-VI cent. A.D. 3 15%
Total 20 100%
than to carry it a mere 75 miles by road.” 290 The trade in stone presumably followed a
167
similar pattern. It may be that the high number of shipwrecked marble carriers dating to the
third century A.D. reflect a zenith of long-distance trade in stone. 291 After the Roman
Empire disintegrated in the fifth century A.D., the system essentially ceased to exist, at
least in the West.
Working from the available archaeological evidence it can also be deduced that the
typical cargo of a navis lapidaria was, on average, lighter than 100 tons (43%), and
occasionally between 100 and 200 tons (38%). Heavier cargoes like those at Isola delle
Correnti and Punta Scifo B, are quite uncommon, at least in the archaeological record,
underscoring the fact that literary testimonia focus on the exceptions and not the rule
(Table 22). An analysis of the marble cargoes still on the seafloor, suggests that most of the
hulls were 25 – 35 m long and 8 – 12 m in beam, on average, but this remains a rough
estimate based on the dispersal of the marble elements that made up the cargoes.
290 White 1984, 131.
291 See Table 18 on pp. 161-4 for a list of the known marble carriers, and their estimated dates.