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Discovered by divers from the French Navy Diving School in 1967, the archaeological investigations of the Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens constituted the first large scale, “truly scientific underwater excavation() carried out in France”. The wreck lies at around 18 to 20 metres depth off the coast of the small fishing port of La Madrague de Giens on the Giens peninsula, east of Toulon, on the southern Mediterranean coast of France. Sunk around 75-60 BCE, the vessel has been found to be “a large merchantman of considerable tonnage - 400 tons deadweight with a displacement of around 550 tons”, making it one of the largest Roman wrecks excavated, with only the wreck at Albenga, Italy (around 600 tons deadweight) exceeding it at the time of its discovery. The vessel wrecked at Madrague de Giens measured around 40 metres in length;〔 “showed a sharp bottom with “wine glass” section and a prominent keel creating a large leeboard”;〔 displayed extended raking of the stem and stern; and had two masts.〔 The hull was characterised by a reverse stempost in the shape of a ram with a big cutwater which “must have given... () craft high-performance sailing qualities”.〔 The ship sunk while transporting a large cargo of wine and black glazed pottery from Italy.〔 It is not known why it sank. ==Archaeological investigation== In the summer of 1972 a team of maritime archaeologists of the Archaeological Institute, run jointly in Aix-en-Provence (France) by the University of Provence and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research or CNRS)〔 began what was planned as three years of work on the recently discovered Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens. The archaeological investigations would end up running for 11 seasons, only concluding in 1982,〔 and are notable for first utilising a number of archaeological techniques still used in underwater excavation. Unbeknownst to the team of diver-archaeologists who first began documenting the wreck, the Madrague de Giens vessel would soon be revealed as one of the "largest ancient ships whose remains have ever been found under the sea".〔 Throughout the excavations the team was led by Andre Tchernia, France's "first director of research in underwater archaeology"〔 and then assistant director of CNRS, and Patrice Pomey, a maritime archaeologist. The first four years of excavations, undertaken from 1972 to 1975 (with the results published in 1978), focused on the central area of the ship. These excavations established the approximate age of the wreck (around the middle of first century BCE) and determined the cargo the ship was carrying at the time of its sinking.〔 They also helped in determining the origin of the cargo - amphorae from Terracina, Italy and Campanian ceramics and pottery.〔 From 1976 to 1982 excavations focused on the other parts of the wreck not uncovered in previous seasons. The 1976 to 1979 campaigns primarily involved the stern which had been well preserved under 2 to 3 metre deep sediment.〔 Once uncovered, the stern, which is one of the largest and most complete of all Roman wrecks, revealed important information about the construction of the ship.〔 In 1980 focus shifted to the front of the ship. A 4-metre unexcavated area, deemed to be of little interest and not worth the time it would take to excavate, was left between the centre and stern of the wreck as the archaeologists moved to the extreme front of the ship.〔 The stern was abandoned in favour of the bow as what had already been uncovered suggested that parallels might possibly be made between the Madrague de Giens wreck and classical iconography and the archaeologists wished to explore this further.〔 With the bow uncovered it was clear that the shape and proportions of the ship were indeed similar to images created at the time of its wrecking, particularly that of the Ocean God mosaic in the Themetra baths in Tunisia.〔 With the extreme front of the ship recorded, archaeologists moved back towards the centre of the wreck, beginning at the rearmost portion of the 'front' section and working forwards.〔 Throughout the excavations it was discovered that the site may have been heavily impacted by divers who had salvaged from the wreck. After analysis it was concluded that most, if not all, of the salvage operations most likely occurred not long after the ship was wrecked. It appeared that almost half the amphorae had been removed and the site was strewn with rocks (which were most likely used by free divers) from the Giens peninsula.〔 By the end of excavations in 1982 almost all of the wreck had been uncovered, revealing a ship with a concavely profiled bow and a convex stern; a sharp, prominent keel; two masts; and a heavy cargo load,〔 a shape well attested by iconography but not common in the Roman world. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Madrague de Giens (shipwreck)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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