Speakers

Prof Patrice  POMEY
Emeritus Director of Research, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Biography:

Patrice Pomey is an emeritus Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). He holds a PhD in Archaeology from Paris–Sorbonne University. His research interest includes Naval and Maritime Archaeology of the Mediterranean and ancient Egypt, Underwater and Experimental Archaeology, Maritime History, and Underwater cultural heritage.  He was an emeritus Director of Research at the Camille Jullian Centre (2010–2015), Research Director at the Center for Alexandrian Studies (CEAlex) (2008–2010) and Director of Underwater Archaeological Research at the Ministry of Culture (1984–1991). He was also responsible for the Prôtis program, building a replica of the ancient ship Gyptis (2007–2015), Member of the Steering Committee International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology (1995–2003), Member of the administration board of the Musée de la Marine (2000–2003), and Director of Archaeonautica at the National Committee for Scientific Research (CNRS). In addition, Pomey conducted excavations of ship remains at Ain Sukhna, Egypt (2007–2012), and the Madrague de Giens shipwreck (1972–1982). Among his several works are La Batellerie Gallo-Romaine, Pratiques Régionales et Influences Maritimes (2011) and L’archéologie Navale (2005).

Abstract:

The Ancient Mediterranean Shipbuilding and the Sailing Replicas: From the Trireme of Napoléon III to Gyptis

For a long time the studies of nautical archaeology have been limited to only written and iconographic sources. Difficult to interpret, these sources did not provide direct answers to questions about Ancient Mediterranean shipbuilding. The result was a stereotypical view of the ancient ship reduced to some archetypes, war galleys or trade ships, little differentiated in time and space. Whatever they are: Phoenician, Greek, or Roman, ancient ships were all rather similar.

The study of ancient shipwrecks, revealed since the 1950s by underwater archaeology; and more recently, over the past thirty years, by excavations in harbor environment, deeply renewed our knowledge of ancient ships through direct study, finally possible, of their archaeological remains. In addition, it is now possible to show the great diversity of ship-types according to their origins, their function, and their navigation area, to highlight their evolution in time and space, and to characterize several traditions of shipbuilding with their interference and their evolutions. 

In this respect, sailing replicas carried out in the frame of experimental archaeology programs—with the exception of many fanciful reconstructions scientifically unfounded or based on insufficient data—are particularly significant. 

We will also review the following examples:

• The Ancient Trireme of Napoleon III, characteristic of the state of knowledge in naval archaeology mid-19th century (1861) and the Olympias, hypothetical replica of a Greek trireme of the Classical Period (1985–1987).
• The Kyrenia II, sailing replica (1982–1985) of a Greek trade ship of end 4th century BCE, assembled by mortise-and-tenon; and the Gyptis, sailing replica (2013) of an archaic greco-massaliote coastal craft, assembled by ligatures.
• The Min, hypothetical replica (2008) of an Egyptian maritime trade ship of the Pharaonic era.

Indeed all these replicas illustrate clearly the evolution of nautical archaeology, and are indicative of the degree of knowledge reached today of ancient boats, ships, and shipbuilding.