Naufrágio das Nozes
Country: Brazil
Place: Ponta do Pisca-Pisca, Morro do Cedro, Enseada de Brito, Palhoça, Santa Catarina
Type: European wooden ship, type unknown
Identified: No
Dated: Not dated. The authors suggest an early date, possibly the initial period of the Conquest, from the state of the timbers and iron artifacts and the association with a Guarani vessel (Duran et al. 2010: 30). No relative or absolute dating had been done at the time of publication.
Introduction
The Naufrágio das Nozes (“wreck of the nuts”) is a submerged site in the southern bay of Santa Catarina Island, named after the walnuts that make up most of its organic remains. It was found through contract archaeology, during the installation of three submarine power cables between the mainland and the island for the electricity utility Eletrosul.
The site is known only from a limited diagnostic survey. The main body of the wreck was not located, and the ship’s origin, date and identity remain open. The authors consider the site unique in Brazil at the time of publication and recommended a full rescue excavation.
Discovery and survey
The cables were buried in trenches 60 cm wide and 1 m deep, in a corridor 50 m wide and 4,195 m long. Earlier surveys for the installation license had found nothing of archaeological interest underwater. During monitoring by A Lasca Arqueologia, commercial divers opening the trench for the south cable found an intact Guarani ceramic vessel, buried no more than 1 m deep and about 10 m from the rocky shore of Morro do Cedro. Iphan’s regional office in Florianópolis endorsed a request for an underwater survey.
The fieldwork took place in May 2008. Two archaeologist-divers swam parallel lines over about 1,500 m² (50 x 30 m, 0 to 3 m deep) and made unsystematic visual inspections between 3 and 5 m deep, up to 70 m from the shore, including along the three disturbed trenches. They then opened ten test pits of about 1 m², 30 to 120 cm deep, over about 800 m²: eight on a grid with 10 m spacing and two where timber was most concentrated. The pits were dug with a water-driven suction dredge (Figure 1).
Description of the site
All the material came from one sedimentary layer, between the seabed surface and 50 cm deep. Nothing was found below that level. The authors estimate that the site covers more than 1,000 m², and they read this as a sign of a medium to large ship, comparing it with ships of the Conquest period of about 30 m of keel (Castro 2008).
They suggest that the ship stranded parallel to the shore, or was thrown sideways against it, which would explain why all three cable trenches cut through the site. They also consider that its position was probably not accidental: coastal processes would be unlikely to carry a drifting ship to this spot, which may have been chosen as an anchorage, or for a deliberate sinking. The area was disturbed by the south and central trenches, and some finds have lost their original context.
Historical context
From the early 16th century, Santa Catarina Island and the adjacent coast served as a watering place and shelter for expeditions of the Conquest, as a slaving port, and as a stop on the routes to the River Plate and the Pacific. The authors list Solís (1516), Cristóvão Jaques, Rodrigo de Acuña of the Loaysa fleet (1525-26), Caboto and Diego García (1526), members of Martim Afonso de Sousa’s fleet (1532), Cabeza de Vaca, and Sanabria with Hans Staden. They state that at least four of these experienced shipwrecks there: Solís, Caboto, Martim Afonso and Sanabria/Staden. None is proposed as the origin of this wreck.
The authors see the site as one of interethnic contact, based on the Guarani vessel and the native palm nuts.
Origin of the ship
The planked hull and the material culture point to a European ship. The authors argue that the ship was probably not Portuguese, because of the large cooking pot: citing D’Intino (1998), they state that the Portuguese were the only navigators who did not prepare collective meals.
Cargo and provisions
Organic remains make up much of the assemblage, but the species had not been precisely identified at the time of publication. It is unclear whether these foods were provisions or cargo, and whether all of them belong to the wreck.
Walnuts: 97 of the 132 organic remains collected (73.48%). Walnut trees grow on this coast today, so they could be intrusive. The authors favor a link to the wreck, because of their association with the artifacts, their state of deterioration, and their absence below 50 cm.
Palm nuts (coquinhos): probably native, and also common in the sambaquis of the Santa Catarina coast. Some were found with the walnuts, which suggests that they were taken on board.
Other foods: one almond (test pit 5), two remains of acorns, and one olive stone. The authors also mention peach stones among the foreign species.
Other finds
Guarani vessel (ñaetá): mouth 32 cm in diameter, 14 cm high, truncated cone shape with a direct rim and a slightly rounded base, a hole of about 4 mm in the side, and worn traces of white and red slip (Juliani 2008). It was the only indigenous artifact found.
Ceramic pot: a small wheel-thrown pot found on the seabed surface, 10 cm high, 4 cm in diameter at the base, 7 cm at its widest and 5 cm at the mouth, which has a reinforcing strip. Its function is uncertain. The authors suggest table service, an oil lamp, or even a kind of hand grenade.
Metal pot: a large deformed cooking vessel, 58 to 68 cm across, standing about 20 cm above the seabed and partly buried, with crushed metal bands on what would have been its bottom. It was recorded in situ near the ceramic pot. The site plan labels it as iron.
Wooden lid: a small pierced lid or stopper, 3 cm in diameter and 2 cm high, with pronounced saw marks and a wooden ring at one end. It was found in the south trench. The authors suggest that it may belong to a pot like the ceramic one above, or even to that pot.
Wooden bowl: a fragment of a wooden plate or bowl (test pit 6), which the authors associate with individual eating utensils.
Leather: possible fragments in test pit 3, and one confirmed piece in test pit 6, 6 x 4 cm, with a rectangular nail hole.
Rope: a segment of about 20 cm (test pit 1). The material was not determined, but its wool-like texture leads the authors to favor an animal origin.
Team
The survey was carried out by Leandro Domingues Duran and Paulo Bava de Camargo for A Lasca Arqueologia, under the general coordination of Lúcia Juliani. The finds were sent to the Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (UNISUL), which endorsed the monitoring through the researcher Rosa Consani.
Ballast
Not mentioned.
Anchors
Not mentioned.
Guns
No guns are reported. A possible projectile was found: an irregular metal sphere about 4 cm in diameter, in a hollow in timber M5. The authors suggest that it may have been fired from a falconet, a small breech-loading piece, and attribute its uneven shape either to corrosion or to impact.
Iron concretions
The site plan marks a group of metal concretions south of the metal pot. An unidentified metal fragment also came from the test pits. The article does not describe them further.
Hull remains
Six timbers were recorded on the surface or in the sides of the trenches, and tiny wood fragments came from every test pit except test pit 1. These do not allow the construction features of the ship to be established. Timbers M2 and M4 were collected for study; M3 was left in place so as not to destabilize it.
Table 1. Timbers
No. | Description | Length [cm] | Width [cm] | Thickness [cm] |
M1 | Largest piece; regular trapezoidal plank, either hull planking or lower-deck lining, compared with Angra D (Garcia & Monteiro 2001). Displaced: found on the surface, over the south trench’s protective layer. | 132 | 33 (max.) | 5-7 |
M2 | Small worked fragment, part of a ship timber or a utensil. In the side of the south trench. | 20 | 12 | 10 |
M3 | Long rectangular piece, partly buried in the side of the central trench. Square fastener hole with sides under 1 cm, compared with Ria de Aveiro A (Alves et al. 2001b). | 43+ | 12 | 10 |
M4 | Small plank fragment, worked on all faces, found just below M1. Possibly a finishing piece or a repair, compared with the stern panel of the San Juan (Grenier 2001). One face damaged by shipworm. Context lost to the south trench. | c. 23 | c. 14 | c. 5 |
M5 | Partly buried, less than 1 cm below the surface, under very fine sediment. Width 17 cm at the visible end, 14 cm at the vertex and 25 cm at the opposite end. | 117+ | 14-25 | Not given |
M6 | Only the knot of a plank survives; the rest was eaten by shipworm. | Not given | Not given | Not given |
Size and scantlings
The size of the ship has not been estimated beyond the authors’ comparison with ships of about 30 m of keel. The only measurements published are those in Table 1.
Caulking
Not mentioned.
Fasteners
No fasteners are described. The only evidence is the square hole in M3.
Wood
The species were not identified. The authors note that the knot M6 may allow the tree species to be identified.
Deliverables
A technical report was submitted to Iphan, and the survey was published by Duran et al. (2010), the only source used for this page.
References
Alves, F., et al., 2001b. “The hull remains of Ria de Aveiro A, a mid-15th century shipwreck from Portugal: a preliminary analysis,” in F. Alves (ed.), Proceedings. International Symposium on Archaeology of Medieval and Modern Ships of Iberian-Atlantic Tradition. Lisbon: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, 317-346.
Castro, F., 2008. “In Search of Unique Iberian Ship Design Concepts,” Historical Archaeology 42.2: 63-87.
D’Intino, R., 1998. “Objectos do quotidiano,” in Nossa Senhora dos Mártires: a última viagem. Exhibition catalogue. Lisbon: Editorial Verbo, 219-227.
Duran, L. D., Camargo, P. B. de, Calippo, F. R., and Juliani, L., 2010. “O naufrágio das nozes (Palhoça, SC): um estudo de caso de arqueologia subaquática de contrato no Brasil,” Vestígios. Revista Latino-Americana de Arqueologia Histórica 4.1: 11-33.
Garcia, C., and Monteiro, P., 2001. “The excavation and dismantling of Angra D, a probable Iberian seagoing ship, Angra bay, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal. Preliminary assessment,” in F. Alves (ed.), Proceedings. International Symposium on Archaeology of Medieval and Modern Ships of Iberian-Atlantic Tradition. Lisbon: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, 431-448.
Grenier, R., 2001. “The Basque whaling ship from Red Bay, Labrador: a treasure trove of data on Iberian Atlantic shipbuilding design and techniques in the mid-16th century,” in F. Alves (ed.), Proceedings. International Symposium on Archaeology of Medieval and Modern Ships of Iberian-Atlantic Tradition. Lisbon: Instituto Português de Arqueologia, 269-294.
Juliani, L., 2008. Monitoramento Arqueológico. 7º Relatório Mensal. Programa de Monitoramento Arqueológico do Sistema de Reforço Eletroenergético à Ilha de Santa Catarina. Florianópolis: Eletrosul/A Lasca. Unpublished Report.