A NEW, SENSATIONAL ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN THE SEA OF TARANTO

A VIDEO FROM THE NATIONAL TV NEWS

FEBRUARY- MARCH 2005

FABIO MATACCHIERA DISCOVERS SOME VERY RARE BYZANTINE ANCHORS

THAT DATE FROM THE 10th–12th CENTURY A.D.

THE THESIS RELEVANT TO THE PRESENCE OF A BYZANTINE VESSEL ON THE DEPTHS OF THE IONIAN SEA HAS BEEN CONFIRMED

Archaeology

Remains of a Byzantine vessel have been discovered in the Ionian Sea Some remains of a Byzantine vessel, about thirty metres long, which date from the 10th–12th Century A.D., have been discovered into the waters in front of Pulsano’s coast. The explorer is a lover for underwater archaeology, Mr. Fabio Matacchiera, who has been helped by archaeologist Dr. Mario Lazzarini. The ancient ship probably sank during a violent sirocco gale. Visible remains of the vessel are only a few, because of sea wash. Archaeological finds, as to what has been reported by the two experts, are very similar to some other most valuable ones that have been discovered in Turkey, in Serce Limani, in Syria and in the Black Sea. (An article from THE GAZETTE OF UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH) click here

 

The four anchors have been located, along with some other items, which will undergo a better examination by experts of Apulia’s Monuments, Archaeology and Fine Arts Office. The historical objects were part of freight from a Byzantine ship, which sank in Taranto’s sea. The archaeological discovery, so far, has no unprecedented similar occurrences as for our sea; it has, what's more, a peculiar significance, as there are only 2 other cases comparable to this finding in the whole Mediterranean Sea. Mr. Matacchiera’s detection has acquired a remarkable importance, thanks to the sharp intuitions of Dr. Mario Lazzarini (a renowned underwater archaeologist from Taranto); Dr. Lazzarini, after having examined the photographs and the films shot by Mr.Fabio Matacchiera, and after some special studies he has carried out relevant to this matter, has pointed out for certain the typology of the archaeological finds, as well as their origin. This confirmed the correspondence of the discovery’s site to the place where a ship, in 10th–12thCentury A.D, had sunk: her remains can be seen on the depths of Salento’s coast, beneath the archaeological finds and all around them.

A graphic work, relative to the anchors’ location, found by Mr. Matacchiera on the Ionian Sea depths

In details, Mr.Fabio Matacchiera’s discovery concerns 4 anchors in the shape of a reversed Y. The anchors lie down the sea depths, one next to the other; two of them are even one on top of the other. The 4 anchors were the additional ones, which were placed on the ship-deck. During and after the sinking those additional anchors, which were, as usual, fastened and placed onto the ship-deck, remained close by, and partly on top of each other; their placement remained almost unchanged during sailing. After due consideration, and thanks to the to the sharp intuitions of Dr. Mario Lazzarini, we may infer that the anchors were not lost by chance, such as a chains’ break, or a shanks’ rupture or a rings’ crack (meaning by this the rings which fastened the anchors to the ship): something more serious must have certainly happened. In truth, the anchors that have been discovered by Mr. Matacchiera are too close each other for having been thrown into the water deliberately, with the purpose to slow down, or to stop the sailing. Moreover, the iron stocks, which used to be fitted into the superior hole of the anchor’s shanks, were missing: these were employed, really, only when the anchor was about to be utilized. It is, then, probable that they were kept separately on the deck. The lack of the stocks shows that those anchors fell into the sea when they were not in usage. Accordingly, there should be no doubts about the fact that the ship, which carried them, sank along with the whole freight, and that some parts of her still lie beneath the anchors and in the surroundings.

A graphic reconstruction of the Byzantine ship in Taranto

The weirdness with these anchors, not so well-known, stands into their particular shape: a reversed Y; this is a big variation, if compared to some other most common anchors which have been found in the Mediterranean Sea. The Y-shaped anchor was employed by some vessels, from 10th to 13th century, only all along the Black Sea and in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The short period of their service, the limited geographical area of distribution, as well as the negligible quantity of findings, make this kind of anchor not sufficiently prominent, also by experts, although extremely interesting from the archaeological point of view

 

In the past, indeed, Mr. Matacchiera has reported to Apulia’s Monuments, Archaeology and Fine Arts Office the presence of those strange objects; all the same, in that circumstance, the importance of that discovery was not recognized; this was due both to the few elements that had been collected at that time, and to the infrequency of similar finds in the Mediterranean Sea. Twenty days before this event, Y-shaped anchors were still unknown.Once they were found, they were ascribed to the Muslim navy. Now we know, instead, that they have also been used on Byzantine ships. The new occurrence, which clarified the previous erroneous belief, refers to the ship in Serçe Limani, along the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea, just opposite Rhodes’ Island. When this ship sank (maybe early in the 11th century of our age), she carried 9 iron anchors with her. 5 of them were the additional ones, fastened one on top of the other upon the deck; the remaining 4, instead, were placed on the ship’s prow, ready for use: 2 for the larboard and 2 for the starboard. Serçe Limani’s anchors were in thin iron; this way, to counterbalance their lightness, it was a normal practice to have 2, 3 or even 4 of them operational at the same time. Reference to the Byzantine ship in Serçe Limani has a crucial value, as it represents an unmistakable certainty of the importance and the distinctiveness of the finding in Taranto’s sea. The Aegean ship was a “two-master”, 15 metres long, 5,3 metres large, with a freight’s capacity of almost 30 tons. The sinking took place on a sandy depth; for this reason a large amount of plating and of freight has been preserved up to nowadays, in order to be examined, restored and conserved carefully at the Underwater Archaeology Museum in Bodrum, Turkey. Part of ship’s freight was also made up by bowls, amphorae, pots, nets, fishing tools, some golden and some copper coins, a small amount of jewels, a number of sterling silver rings, one sword, various spare parts, utensils, and several carpentry’s and caulking’s tools.

 

 

Correlation between the ship in Serçe Limani and the one discovered by Mr.Fabio Matacchiera in Taranto’s sea is, by now, evident. But some other findings have bolstered the assumption of some ship’s remains in the relevant area.Mr. Matacchiera, in fact, has traced, in the same location, some earthenware pots’ pieces and some bulky, polished pebbles having nothing to deal with the nature of sea-depth, and which could be exploited to ballast the ship and make her more stable during sailing. The anchors’ secret is this: they have exactly the same shape (though having a bigger size) of those from Serçe Limani’s ship, and thus testifying, along with the others, the sinking of a Byzantine ship, more or less in the same age, but even bigger than the previous one.

Fabio Matacchiera came across numerous war surpluses and archaeological finds, via his underwater Closed Circuit telecameras (XENA, EXPLORER 2, EXPLORER 3 and LUNA), which enable the live transmission of pictures on boats in motion, and by means of an underwater trailer (DELTA1), on which he can dive in prone position, checking sea-depths quickly and efficiently