Assonet - Underwater Archaeology - The secrets of the shallows

THE SECRETS OF THE SHALLOWS

by Mario Mazzoli - A.S.S.O. - published on MONDO SOMMERSO magazine - 1992, April

Some time ago in the underground we were glanging at the newspaper of an elderly lady who, despite the crush, continued to unperturbedly read an article which announced the approval of the law on voluntary workers. Civil defence, mediacl aid, cultural assets, finance, coordination, etc.
Our minds immediately turned to the Secca dei Mattoni shallows between the islands of Ponza and Palmarola where, years ago, when we were still part of the underwater section of the ArcheoClub d'Italia, we carried out three excavation campaigns regarding an important Republican wreck. We taxed ourselves and made every effort, including some RAI television trasmissions, to finance the excavations which were kindly and wisely authorized by the Head of the Archaeological Service for Latium, Mrs. M. L. Veloccia Rinaldi.

We remember the enormous bulk of work, the excellent quality of the results obtained compared with the briefness of our intervention, determined by tha lack of finance and by the large number of persons involved. We also reflected on the attempts to exclude voluntary workers from these activities because "... as you know, these things should be done by professionals (please read firms) and the voluntary workers could, perhaps, carry out the work of recognition, marking...."
Far be it from us to want to get involved in arid disquisitions among voluntary workers, firms, and archaelogical services because, as you can well imagine, each case is a story in itself.
However, one thing is certain: credible voluntary organizations could gain from these laws some extra opportunities to support their case against the absolute upholders of "firms are beatiful", who are often also inspired by merely financial factors in addition to the operational potentiality.

With our ASSO association we have worked as a team also together with specialized firms and, in some cases, the formula has proved successful. It would be really sterile therefore to have general discussions and we can assure those people who constantly, in a more or less direct manner, talk in the above way, that is not impposible for some well-organized and credible voluntary workers to keep in step with specialized entrepreneurs, in terms of the quality of the results.

Some days went by then Giuliana Galli phoned us. She is also a member of ASSO who worked with us on the Secca dei Mattoni wreck. She confirmed that she had graduated in ancient literature with full marks, discussing a thesis precisely about the Secca dei Mattoni. In this way, she brought our attention back to what constituted an important past but wa have no intention of filing it away as such. In fact, this wreck is the subject of a great project, presently being finalized, which ASSO is preparing with the collaboration of important State Bodies and industrial partners. We would therefore point out again to readers one of the most important late-Republican wrecks in the Mediterranean which we talked about in Mondo Sommerso dated October 9189, supplying news about the first excavation campaign.

The island of Ponza was visited by Volscians, Phoenicians and Greeks who, it is said, called it PONTIA due to the large stretch of sea which divides it from the coast. The Romans settled there permanently, building aqueducts, villas and fish breeding ponds and the island was a place of exile almost up until recent times. The island was an important crossroads for communication and maritime trade routes and the wreck in question is an important testimony of this. The cargo ship of the Secca dei Mattoni has been the subject of three research campaigns (1986, 1987 and 1988), devised and carried out by what was then the Underwater Research Section of the Central Headquarters of ArcheoClub d'Italia, the majority of which has now united with ASSO. They were campaings which involved a large staff where the collaboration of the Underwater Squad of the Carabinieri and the Divers from the Air Resque Group of the Airforce proved to be precious.

The very limited resources available caused us to opt for a trench excavation instead of, as we would have preferred , one spread over "large areas", and the collection of data was clearly affected by the type of excavation. The purpose was to individuate the central part of the boat, study its cargo and obtain some study elements to define its naval architecture. The results were nearer to the first rather than the second objective.

The ship, resting on a sea bed at a depth of thirty metres, had at least two differentiated cargos made up of amphorae from Brindisi, in the lower layer, and amphorae of the Dressel 1 and Lamboglia 2 types; the latter are the most frequent and are situated in the upper layer. The entire cargo would seem to form a well determined typology, already known thanks to the discovery of other wrecks, above all along the Iberian Peninsula (Estartit, north of Barcelona, Sa Nau Perduda, near Gerona and San Jordi, on the island of Majorca); along the French coast of the Mediterranean (Madrague de Giens, Cavaliere, Titan, Grand Colongue and other places). Everything coincides with a very precise trade route along which wine and ceramics were carried from Southern Italy as far as Gaul, in the cronological arch between the 2nd and 1st century BC. This came about, particularly, after the law of the Roman Senate which prohibited the cultivation of vines in the provinces.

The Dr. 1 amphorae , due to their extended shape, were set out in various layers in order to make the most rational use possible of the space in the hold, inserting the tips of those in the upper layer into the necks of those in the lower layer. Some straw was placed between the containers to reduce friction and in the empty spaces of the upper layers were placed some batches of black painted ceramics and, at the time of the excavation, they werre still piled up in their original position.

Common ceramics and ceramics painted red inside completed the cargo on the Ponza ship even if, on the basis of data obtained from this and other wrecks, there is strenghtened belief that ceramics in general did not play a main role in maritime transport and, apart from some occasions during the Imperial Age, they were always aggregated with other trades, above all foodstuffs.

The amphorae of the Secca dei Mattoni without bubbles or tituli picti can be reduced to tjhree forms which refer to different production zones on the two sides of the Peninsula: the Tyrrhenian side for the Dressel 1 amphorae and the Adriatic side for the Lamboglia 2 and Brindisi amphorae. The Dressel 1 amphorae, mainly produced in Tuscany, southern Latium and Campania, were greatly diffused (France, Spain, England, etc., and they can be dated towards the middle of the 2nd century BC, whereas the gradual disappearance of the Empire 's wine trade towards the provinces marked their disappearance. We have come acrosss three subtypes: the 1A type was in the last layer of the cargo, more exposed to marine and human agents; the 1B type, taller than the 1As (about 1.10 m.) with a higher and less inclined edge, straight handles parallel to the neck, a clean-cut difference between the almost horizontal shoulders and the high belly with a slender tip; and the 1C amphorae, which are even taller (1.18 m.) with a more tapering belly, particularly marked handles, which lean more against the base of the neck that those of the other 1A and 1B subtypes. An interesting example is considered unicum because it unites the characteristics both of the Dressel 1A and 1B amphorae, although it does not belong to either of them.

The Lamboglia 2 amphorae are instead generally considered to be the Adriatic amphorae from the Republican Age, characterized by a large belly, short neck, low edge with a pressed band, straight handles parallel to the neck and a long narrow tip. Given the presence of internal tarring, the Lamboglia 2 amphorae of Ponza were certainly used for wine, in contrast with the fact that most of these containers were used for oil.

The Brindisi amphorae, recovered when the site was being closed, was together with three other similar ones, divided from the rest of the cargo by some boards. These containers were mainly distributed towards the East but the one recovered is fairly closely related to an example from Adge, in France, marked Tuccius Galeo. In addition many ceramic lids have been found which formed the system for closing the amphorae and which were later replaced by a cork, a ceramic lid and a pozzuolana seal with an inscription.

It could be interesting to linger over the pozzuolana seals on which were placed the trade-marks or names of those who wanted to guarantee the good condition of the product. They were mainly merchants and not producers and, in some cases, were also the owners of the ship, ass in the case of the seal of a certain Sextius Arrius, discovered on the wreck of the Dramont A, that was also hallmarked with the stock of the ship's anchor.

On the fragments of seals with an impressed double crown, discovered on the Secca dei Mattoni wreck, appears the name in the genitive A. Saveei regarding which Giuliana Galli has discovered some prospographic indications. Giuliana has deducted that our Aulo must be of Palestrinian or however southern Italian origin, with the status of a freedman (a slave freed according to the formalties foreseen by Roman civil law), which was more suited to the function he had to perform on board.

Many pieces of black painted pottery or Campania ceramics have been discovered which, thanks to maritime traffic, had a facilited and wide market. The cewramics from the Secca dei Mattoni, which Lambogli identifies as B, can be attributed to the end of the 2nd and the beginnig of the 1st century BC and they mainly consist of cups of the Morel 2323 and 1222 type, Lamboglia 3 vases and ciboria (Morel 7450 and 7550 types), other forms such as the Lamboglia 5 (low bowls without handles) small Lamboglia 10 urns and two spindle-shaped ointment jars. In addition fragments of common ceramics have been discovered which, when studied in depth, would appear to be kitchen crockery used by the crew.

Mrs. Galli's study, in addition to enriching oure knowledge of the wreck, better defines our previous estimates of the date when the ship sank (first half of the 1st century BC), attributing it to a period between the end of the 2nd century and the early part of the 1st century BC. She also confirms to us the route envisaging departure from the Apulian coasts, thanks to the layout of the cargo, with a stop over in Campania, probably at Pozzuoli, where she took on board the Dressel 1 and the Lamboglia 2 items, before continuing towards Narbonne Gaul or passing through the Bonifacio Straits in the direction of Spain. However, it was the destiny of this large coasting vessel to sink off the island of Ponza where, in the near future, we will try to grasp more of her secrets and information by means of a systematic large area study of her wreck.

| Home Page | Indice di Archeologia Subacquea |Info |

For a basic translation you may copy the address (url) of this page and paste to