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Table 22. Tonnage of known marble carriers.
Shipwrecks
Tonnage
Shipwrecks
Number
Percentage
%
< 100 9 43%
≥ 100-200 8 38%
≥ 200-300 2 10%
= 350 2 10%
Total 21 100%
The Punta Scifo A Shipwreck: Cargo Parallels
The Punta Scifo A shipwreck represents a unique assemblage of newly-quarried
third-century marble objects, rather different from known shipwrecks of the same period.
The most common cargoes of similar date are indeed composed of large marble blocks,
column shafts, and statue pedestals, but never of artifacts such as labra, decorated
pedestals, statuettes, and candelabra. The only ship that bears some resemblance to the
cargo of Punta Scifo A is the large navis lapidaria that sank 5 km off the coast of Mahdia,
Tunisia, between 90 and 60 B.C. Even though the Mahdia shipwreck had on board only
finished marble items, and is much earlier in date, the two sites share some similarities.
The Mahdia ship, with an estimated cargo of 300 tons and a hull 40.6 m long and
13.8 m in beam, was large for its time (early first century B.C.). 292 For overall dimensions,
168
it may be compared with the mid-first-century B.C. amphora carrier at Madrague de Giens
292 Höckmann 1994, 59.