Olbia Wreck 4

Country: Italy

Place: Waterfront tunnel excavation, downtown Olbia, Sardinia

Type: Merchantman (medieval boat)

Identified: Not identified by name

Dated: Radiocarbon dated to AD 1165-1265; associated ceramics provide a wider range of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries

Number of Masts: Not described in the source text

History of the shipwreck

The construction of a tunnel along the waterfront in downtown Olbia, Sardinia, uncovered 24 ancient wrecks in 1999. Archaeological excavations over the following two years recorded and dismantled the surviving hulls for preservation (D'Oriano 2002, 1249-50). Most of the wrecks belong to three different periods: two from the first century AD, eleven assumed lost during a Vandal raid in the fifth century, three abandoned as reclamation fill between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and three ships dating to the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries respectively (assumed to be accidental losses). Five other hull remains were significantly damaged and dated to the fifth century, with a small boat not dated (D'Oriano and Riccardi 2019, 189-90).

The tunnel excavation also uncovered various tools and wooden objects in the process of being converted into naval supplies. This latter collection of material is assumed to have been lost and not recovered due to flooding of a local shipyard. Most publications about this collection focus on the earlier vessels, with less information reported about the medieval shipwrecks (Riccardi 2002; D'Oriano 2004).

Surviving evidence from Olbia Wreck 4 suggests the ship caught fire and sank, based on radiocarbon dating between AD 1165 and 1265. Associated ceramics in the area provide a wider date range, from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. After disassembly of the hull, excavators uncovered a stone ball from a catapult that they believe was used during the siege of Olbia by the Aragonese in 1323 (Riccardi 2003, 313).

Description of the site

Olbia Wreck 4 was found during the construction of a tunnel along the waterfront in downtown Olbia, Sardinia, among a group of 24 ancient wrecks uncovered in 1999 (D'Oriano 2002, 1249-50).

Hull Remains

Limited information reported for Wreck 4 states that the keel has a shallow rabbet, and most of the frames were jumbled. Several frames are also reported with dovetail joints connecting the floor timbers to futtocks (Riccardi 2003, 313).

References

D'Oriano, R., 2002.

D'Oriano, R., and Riccardi, E., 2019.

Riccardi, E., 2002.

D'Oriano, R., 2004.

Riccardi, E., 2003. "Medieval boats from the Port of Olbia"