Between 2007 and 2012 the Department for Underwater Archaeology of the Croatian Conservation Institute from Zagreb and the Department of Humanistic Studies of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice collaborated in the recording, underwater excavation and analysis of the unusually well-preserved wreck of a 16th century Venetian merchantman in the Sveti Pavao shallow off the southern shore of the island of Mljet, Croatia. The shipwreck preserved many personal possessions of the crew as well as a number of bronze artillery pieces and the remains of a cargo of luxury and richly decorated ceramic material from Iznik and other oriental workshops.
Although the excavation is not complete, this volume presents the results of the project so far. The methodological and technical aspects of the underwater investigation of the site, mainly by photogrammetry, are described; the historical and archaeological context of navigation in the late Medieval period in the eastern Mediterranean discussed; and the recovered artefacts described and catalogued in detail, together with the remains of the ship and its equipment that, because of depth and of problems of conservation, have been left in situ. The conservation and restoration of the finds are described in an appendix.
Contents
Preface, by Mario Braun and Paolo Eleuteri
Forward, by C. Beltrame, S. Gelichi and I. Miholjek
List of authors
1.Introduction, C. Beltrame and I. Miholjek
2. Methodological and technical aspects
2.1. Discovery, research methods and techniques, I. Miholjek and D. Perkić:
2.2. Photogrammetric documentation of the hull, C. Alfonso
2.3. Photographical documentation, R. Mosković
2.4. The 3D Reconstruction of the Hull, E. Costa
3. The historical and archaeological maritime context
3.1. The Adriatic Sea, pottery and shipwrecks in the late and post-medieval periods: an archaeological perspective, S. Gelichi
3.2. Archaeological traces of Venetian navigation in the Mediterranean and Atlantic from the 116th to the 18th century, C. Beltrame
4. The shipwreck of Mljet
4.1. The Ship, its equipment and the crew’s personal possessions, C. Beltrame
4.2. The Ordnance, I. Mihajlović
4.3. A transport of Iznik pottery, V. Zmaić
4.4. Other pottery finds, S. Gelichi
4.5. Glass finds, M. Ferri
4.6. Metal finds, J. Bezak
4.7. The Ottoman Akches, G. Kürkman
4.8. Two Saxony talers, V. Zmaić
4.9. Archaeozoological finds, T. Trbojević Vukičević
4.10. Considerations of dating and the hstorical context of the Mljet shipwreck, C. Beltrame
5. Conclusions, C. Beltrame, S. Gelichi, I. Miholjek and V. Zmaić
Appendix: The conservation and restoration of the finds, M. Mustaček, M. Ćurković, A. Jozić and A. Jelić
