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inthenewsrecent stories from the world of ancient art and archaeologyA Roman shipwreck in AntibesA team of French archaeologists from theInstitut National de RecherchesArchéologiques Préventives (INRAP) haveuncovered a Roman shipwreck in Antibesin what was once part of the bustlingancient port of Antipolis. It all started witha routine exploration prior to the buildingof an underground car park on the site ofthe ancient harbour basin, which silted upin antiquity and today is located betweenthe modern marina and the ramparts.A preliminary diagnosis carried out in2007 by core-boring (the bottom of theancient port is 4 to 5 metres below today’ssea level) revealed archaeological materialfrom the third century BC to roughly thesixth century AD, and the possibility offinding a shipwreck was not ruled out.Excavation proper could only start whenseawater was pumped out of the basin, inearly 2012. Layers of sediment wereexamined and numerous objects extracted.Because the sediment was below sea level, ithelped to preserve organic material such aswood, leather (used for the soles of shoes)and cork (stoppers for amphorae). Thewreck itself was uncovered during theexcavation of the last section, lying on itsside in shallow water (less than 1.60metres below the ancient sea level), andthe preserved section is over 15 metres.In conjunction with the Camille JullianCentre, INRAP commissioned a specialistin naval archaeology to analyse andinterpret this important find.The remains consist of a keel andseveral hull planks joined together bythousands of wooden pegs inserted intomortises hollowed out in the planks.About 40 transverse ribs (shown right) arelying on top, some fixed to the hull bymetal pins. The wood used is mainlyconifer. Parts of the hull are reinforced bylead plating held in place by small nails.Tool marks (saw and adze) are also clearlyvisible, as is the pitch used to make thehull watertight. This was a medium-sizedtrading sailing boat (20-22 metres long, 6-7metres wide, with a hold about 3 metresdeep). The fact that the hull was not builtover a frame and that the ribs were onlythere to reinforce it, confirm the datingsuggested both by stratigraphy and by theceramics collected near the vessel: aroundthe second century AD. The ship can beclassified as a typical imperial Roman vesseltrading in the western Mediterranean. Thewreck has been taken apart and sent off tothe ARC-Nucléart laboratory in Grenoble,which specialises in treating ancientwaterlogged wood. In 18 months’ time it willbe reassembled and exhibited in Antibes.Nicole BenazethWinner of the Minerva/Peten Travels Prize DrawIn our January/February issue we announceda Prize Draw for a 16-day archaeologicaltour of Ancient Anatolia for two (worthover £6,500). Here, the lucky winner,Roald Knutsen, describes his trip:‘When I heard that I had been fortunateenough to win the Hittites and Phrygianstour arranged by Peten Travels of Istanbul(www.petentour.com), I could hardly believemy luck. My personal interest in the regionlies in the ancient trade routes that led eastalong the famed Silk Road, so here was a rareopportunity not to be missed.‘It is difficult to outline briefly all wesaw, as we visited so many importantancient sites scattered across the Anatolianplain. But I will say that at each of them– ranging from the Phrygian capital ofGordion, near the tomb of King Midas’father, to the incredible 10,000-year-oldsite of Catal Höyük, an ancient city whichonce had a population of 8,000 people –we were welcomed and guided round themby the excavation director himself or asenior archaeologist. Their enthusiasm wasboundless and infectious, and their patiencewas unexpected and exemplary.‘Besides these two famous excavations,our tour also included Kaman-Kale Höyük,Pteria, Alaca Höyük, ŞSapinuwa, the cityremains of Bogazköy-Hattusa, Kültepe andAçik Höyük, the neo-Hittite rock relief ofKing Warpalawas at the mountain site of Ivriz.‘We saw buildings from all periods, ancientto early medieval, temples and other sacredplaces, ancient sculpture and excellently laidoutmodern museums displaying the mostimportant finds. Outstanding for me wasto see one of the three surviving cuneiformtexts of the peace treaty between the Hittiteleader Muwatalli and the Egyptian pharaohRamesses II after the Battle of Kadesh.‘Throughout the tour, put together by MrsIffet Ozgonul, Director of Peten Travels,we were accompanied by an excellent andknowledgeable guide and supported byMinerva. If ancient Anatolia interests you,don’t hesitate – book your place now.’Minerva/Peten Travels Prize Draw winner RoaldKnutsen by the Sphinx Gate at the entrance toAlaca Höyük, a Hittite city on the Anatolian plain.Photo by Simon CrittendenMinerva November/December 20123
inthenewsLost Roman town resurfacesHaving lain dormant for 1,500 years, thetown of Interamna Lirenas, 50 miles southof Rome, has been rediscovered and ischanging scholars’ view of the nature ofRoman colonial settlements.Long known about from the writings ofthe Roman historian Livy and the Greekgeographer Strabo, Interamna Lirenas hadalways been seen as a quiet town of littleconsequence, which followed the standardtemplate of urban development. But therecent work of a collaborative projectinvolving Cambridge University, the BritishSchool at Rome, the British Academy andthe Italian State Archaeological Service hasshed more light on this supposed backwater.The exact location of the town, in theLiri Valley in Southern Lazio, was gleanedfrom ancient sources. The fact that it wasstill unexcavated, and was thought tohave developed relatively little during theImperial Roman era, made the town anideal candidate to accurately reflectoriginal colonial settlement features.Led by Martin Millett, LaurenceProfessor of Classical Archaeology atCambridge and Fellow of FitzwilliamCollege, and Dr Alessandro Launaro,Postdoctoral Fellow at the British Academyand Fellow of Darwin College, the teamknew that a full-scale excavation of thesite, which covers more than 25 hectares,would be impractical, so they started withgeophysical mapping.By using a combination of scientifictechniques – ground-penetrating radar andmagnetometry – the team began to buildup a picture of the original street plan, andspecific features came to the fore.The greatest surprise was the appearanceof a building with radially arranged wallsand tiered seats within, which soonrevealed itself to be a Roman theatre.This suddenly changed the perceptionof this town as a small settlement.With its dominant temple and forum,Interamna Lirenas distinguishes itselfconsiderably from nearby Fregellae,which is also on the Via Latina – theprincipal road leading south-east out ofRome – and which was previously thoughtto be a comparable colonial town.Millett explained the significance of thefind: it challenges the formerly held viewthat Rome projected a certain image ofitself by building all colonial towns to apattern, and hence organising what thecommunities’ priorities would be, a viewthis discovery now challenges.There are hopes that excavation maybegin again in earnest in summer 2013,starting with the northern corner, whichincorporates the theatre and the forum,this would hopefully allow the precisedating of these structures. The local mayorhopes to turn what is know an unassumingstretch of farmland into an archaeologicalpark in the future.Geoff LowsleyDental detritus reveals useful factsThe idea of picking throughsomeone else’s dental detrituswould fill most of us withhorror, but it is by doing exactlythis that Christina Warriner,of the Centre for EvolutionaryMedicine at the Universityof Zurich, is gleaning valuableinformation about the livesof Iranian miners who died2,000 years ago.Archaeological geneticistsstudy some of the more unusualelements of the material remainsof our ancestors to gain aninsight into the past. Fromanimal, plant and bacterialremains to human tissue, boneand teeth, all the biomoleculesleft in what was once livingcan pass down a vast amountof information about thesurrounding environment.Warriner explained howmillions of threads of DNAbelonging to bacteria thatinhabited the mouth and throatare captured in dental calculus(commonly called plaque).Extracting and examiningthese DNA threads should‘allow us to investigate thelong-term evolutionary historyof human health and disease,right down to the genetic codeof individual pathogens, and itshould allow us to reconstruct adetailed picture of the dynamicinterplay between diet, infectionand immunity that occurredthousands of years ago’.Her particular area of interestis the mummies of miners fromthe salt mines of Chehr Abad,in north-west Iran, dating fromthe 4th century BC to the 4thcentury AD. The bodies of menwere naturally preserved bydesiccation when the salt minescollapsed. Unlike Egyptianmummies, they did not havetheir organs removed and,incredibly, some of the tissueis still intact.The aim of her project is tofind evidence for an inheritedgenetic trait, a deficiency inthe enzyme G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase),which causes anaemia, aparticularly common conditionin modern-day Iran.It has been postulated thatmany of today’s digestivedisorders may be precipitatedby modern food-productiontechniques causing an imbalancein the bacteria within the gut.It is possible that identifying thebacteria carried by our ancestorscould help to determine what isa healthy balance.This type of study need not belimited to digestive conditions,however. Warriner explains:‘Diseases and disorders such asperiodontitis, heart disease,allergies and diabetes all have anevolutionary component relatedto the fact that we live in adifferent environment to the onein which our bodies evolved.’So we may also learn valuablelessons that can help in modernmedical treatment.While dentists tell us to brushour teeth regularly, we arefortunate that those before uswere not schooled in dentalhygiene, as we now have thisinvaluable archaeologicalrecord written in their plaque.Geoff LowsleyChristina Warriner examines amandible showing dental calculusand ante-mortem tooth loss in aDNA clean labcourtesy of Christina Warinner4
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