Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011 - 28

January 12, 1945. Another particularly striking modern ﬁnd is the long-missing bow of the HMS Volage, which is rewriting a controversial bit of Cold War history (see sidebar on page 26). Nautical archaeologists are just starting to understand the region, Royal stresses. But that is an improvement on years past, he adds. “Before, archaeologists didn’t even know what questions to ask.” he mood in the control room is tense. Wilson steers the SeaEye toward the anomaly using a 3-D model of the seaﬂoor generated by the ship’s GPS. Robb and Royal are antsy, their eyes glued to the wall of monitors.“This is when we turn into little kids,” This early amphora, made in Sicily or southern Italy, probably carried wine Robb says. in the 5th or 4th century B.C. Such finds are changing our understanding Suddenly in the corner of one screen a long, of the place of the eastern Adriatic in ancient trade networks. curved, gray-green object pops into view. “That is an anchor!” Robb says, smiling. But in the absence of more archaeological evidence, it was “It’s a long daddy,” Royal chimes in, as the full object hard to say with certainty what role the area played in regionappears on-screen. Octopus eggs hang oﬀ the curved ﬂuke, al trade. As a result, many historians embraced a narrative and the shank is covered with tiny crustaceans. A lobster put forth by ancient Roman texts—that the eastern shore of clings to the tip. the Adriatic was in fact not so economically critical, and that Where there is an anchor, there is often a wreck, and now the Illyrians, the people who inhabited it, were pirates, not the expedition’s team members wonder whether they’ll break traders. Polybius (ca. 200–118 b.c.) summed up what would their dry spell. “This is a good sign,” Robb says, to no one in become the prevailing analysis of Balkan maritime activity in particular. Tare jogs in from the next room and kneels on the Book II of The Histories: “For a long time previously they [the ﬂoor to get a good look. Illyrians] had been in the habit of maltreating vessels sailing Wilson steers the SeaEye west, then north. A school of from Italy, and now while they were at Phoenice, a number ﬁsh swims into view—another good sign, since ﬁsh tend to of them detached themselves from the ﬂeet and robbed or hide in wreck debris. The ﬁsh disappear, and a rectangular killed many Italian traders, capturing and carrying oﬀ no column, long and fuzzy with sea life, takes their place. small number of prisoners.” “Looks like wood!” Royal shouts. Today, RPMNF and the Albanian Institute of Archaeol“Yep, wood,” Tare says.“Wow.” Then everyone is talking at ogy are changing that interpretation. The surveys of Albaonce. “That looks like a cannon!” “Looks like a cannon lying nian and surrounding waters have uncovered wrecks that on something.” “Wow, there’s a lot of stuﬀ here.” “A cannon give strong evidence of trade. Last summer in Montenegrin and an anchor—that means a ship!” waters just north of Albania, RPMNF found a wreck site The ship’s hull long ago disintegrated, but sure enough, the covered with amphorae of a type known to have originated team has found a wreck. The SeaEye’s cameras reveal a ram, in Sicily and southern Italy, dating to the fourth century two anchors, and fragments of ﬁve cannon. Robb announces b.c., suggesting a clear commercial route across the Adriatic. the discovery over his walkie-talkie, and the rest of the crew The ship, Royal says, “would have been coming from Italy or crowds into the tiny control room—captain, chef, videograSicily and continued right past northern Albania and into pher, divers, and engineers, all vying for a look. Wilson traces Montenegro”—providing further evidence that the region’s the outline of the wreck with the SeaEye, and Royal decides, people were traders rather than pirates. Royal believes the based on the features of the cannon and anchors, that they region may have also hosted trading partners for Corinth, the are looking at a ship from the early eighteenth century. Later ancient city-state in southern Greece established in the late he will run the images past modern-era specialists, but his seventh century b.c. RPMNF has already found ﬁve wrecks assessment means that for now, at least, the team won’t linger containing Corinthian amphorae, and Royal hopes future there. There are simply too many ancient wrecks waiting to work will reveal Corinthian trade routes. be discovered. As the SeaEye hovers over the ocean ﬂoor, Albanian waters are so archaeologically rich that the crew though, the crew members take a minute to marvel. Then is making modern discoveries as well. In 2007, RPMNF they go back to work. ■ found what appear to be the remains of the HMS Regulus, Mara Hvistendahl is a science journalist based in a 235-foot World War II minesweeper that reportedly sank The Netherlands. oﬀ the southern shore of Albania after hitting a mine on
28 ARCHAEOLOGY • March/April 2011

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2011