The Hull of Yenikapı Shipwreck YK 11: a 7th‐century merchant vessel from Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour
2018; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 47; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/1095-9270.12293
ISSN1095-9270
Autores Tópico(s)Law, logistics, and international trade
ResumoYK 11, a small, heavily repaired merchantman, was one of 37 Byzantine shipwrecks excavated at Yenikapı in Istanbul, Turkey. This 7th-century hull, abandoned in the harbour as a derelict, was studied by archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Originally built with mortise-and-tenon edge joinery, the ship had undergone a series of significant repairs over its lifetime. Repairs included the replacement of planking as well as framing. Although the repaired vessel exhibits evidence of both shell-first and skeleton-first shipbuilding techniques, detailed study of the hull remains indicates that the ship was initially designed and built as a primarily shell-based vessel. 耶尼卡皮11号沉船 (YK11) 的船体:君士坦丁堡狄奥多西港出土的7世纪商船 YK11是一艘经过深度修复的商船, 属于在土耳其伊斯坦布尔耶尼卡皮发现的37艘拜占庭沉船之一。海洋考古研究所的考古学家对这艘被作为废弃物遗弃在港口的7世纪船只的船体进行了研究。该船原以榫卯法拼接船壳, 在其使用期间经历了多次大修。这些修缮包括替换船壳板和肋骨。尽管这艘经过修复的船只显示其存在使用船壳法和骨架法两种构造技术的迹象, 但针对船体遗存的细节研究表明该船最初是按照船壳法设计与建造的船舶。 关键词:耶尼卡皮, 沉船, 7世纪, 船壳造船法, 修复, 拜占庭 耶尼卡皮11號沉船 (YK11) 的船體:君士坦丁堡狄奧多西港出土的7世紀商船 YK11是一艘經過深度修複的商船, 屬于在土耳其伊斯坦布爾耶尼卡皮發現的37艘拜占庭沉船之一。海洋考古研究所的考古學家對這艘被作爲廢棄物遺棄在港口的7世紀船只的船體進行了研究。該船原以榫卯法拼接船殼, 在其使用期間經歷了多次大修。這些修繕包括替換船殼板和肋骨。盡管這艘經過修複的船只顯示其存在使用船殼法和骨架法兩種構造技術的跡象, 但針對船體遺存的細節研究表明該船最初是按照船殼法設計與建造的船舶。 關鍵詞:耶尼卡皮, 沉船, 7世紀, 船殼造船法, 修複, 拜占庭 El casco del naufragio de Yenikapi YK11: una embarcación mercante del puerto de Teodosio en Constantinopla YK11, un mercante pequeño, reparado en múltiples ocasiones; fue uno de los 37 naufragios bizantinos excavados en Yenikapi, Estambul, Turquía. Este casco del siglo VII, abandonado en el puerto como derrelicto, fue estudiado por arqueólogos del Instituto de Arqueología Náutica. Originalmente construido con el sistema de ensamblaje de mortaja y lengüeta en los cantos de la tablazón, el barco experimentó una serie de reparaciones significativas a lo largo de su vida útil. Las reparaciones incluyeron el remplazo de tracas, así como de cuadernas. Aunque la embarcación reparada exhibe evidencias de ambas técnicas de construcción, casco previo y esqueleto previo, el estudio detallado de los restos del casco indica que fue inicialmente diseñado y construido como primordialmente de casco previo. Palabras clave: Yenikapi, naufragio, siglo VII, construcción a esqueleto previo, reparaciones, Bizantino. In preparation for the construction of the Marmaray Project, a major extension of the Turkish State Railways, the Istanbul Archaeological Museums began conducting salvage archaeological excavations at Yenikapı in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004. These excavations, concluded in 2013, yielded tens of thousands of artefacts ranging in date from the Neolithic to the Late Ottoman period (Asal, 2007; Gökçay, 2007; İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri, 2011; Kızıltan, 2013). The most extensive finds from the site are those associated with Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour, one of the primary harbours serving the Byzantine capital between the late 4th and 15th centuries AD (Mango, 1986: 121; Müller-Wiener, 1994: 9–10; Pulak et al., 2015: 39–42). During this period, silts deposited by the Lykos River (Bayrampaşa Deresi) and marine sand deposited during storms filled the harbour, such that its usable area decreased over time (Janin, 1950: 219; Berger, 1993; Pulak, 2007: 203–204; Perinçek, 2010: 207–208, 210–211). Based on the writings of Petrus Gyllius, the harbour area had been filled in completely by the 16th century (Ball, 1988: 201). Harbour-related finds at the site include the remains of piers and other harbour installations, loose ship timbers and ships' equipment, and 37 well-preserved shipwrecks of 5th- to 11th-century AD date (Kızıltan, 2013: 3–4; one of these, YK 28, may be part of YK 27, which would revise the total found to 36 shipwrecks: see Kocabaş, 2015: 23). The shipwrecks and other organic material found at Yenikapı, buried in sediments below the water table, are exceptionally well preserved. The Istanbul Archaeological Museums' staff identified the wreck locations and removed the sediment overburden and artefacts associated with the shipwrecks, after which each ship was allocated for further study by specialists. Eight of the site's 37 shipwrecks were allocated for study by a small international team under the direction of Cemal Pulak, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University and Vice-President of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University (INA). These eight ships, ranging in date from the early 7th to late 10th century AD, comprise six round ships or merchantmen (YK 1, YK 5, YK 11, YK 14, YK 23, and YK 24) and two long ships or galleys (YK 2 and YK 4). Pulak's team, including the author, documented and removed these eight ships from the construction zone at Yenikapı between July 2005 and December 2008 (Pulak, 2007; Ingram and Jones, 2011; Pulak et al., 2013; Pulak et al., 2015). The remaining ships at the site were allocated for study by a team from Istanbul University's Conservation Department of Marine Archaeological Objects under the direction of Ufuk Kocabaş (Başaran et al., 2007; Kocabaş and Özsait Kocabaş, 2007; Kocabaş, 2008; 2010; 2012a; 2012b; 2015; Özsait Kocabaş, 2012; Türkmenoğlu, 2012). The hull designated as YK 11 is the westernmost shipwreck excavated at Yenikapı, located within grid squares J88–89 and K88–89 in the Third District of the Marmaray portion of the excavation, near the western end of the Theodosian Harbour (Fig. 1). It was first identified by staff of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums in late 2005 and partially uncovered in January 2006. At that time it was assessed to be a 7th-century shipwreck by Pulak, who then proceeded to take on the excavation and conservation of the shipwreck with funding provided by INA and Texas A&M University and additional in-kind support by the Gama-Nurol Partnership. Shipwreck YK 11 has been alternately referred to as the Yüzada wreck, having been found near the Yüzada ('Plot 100', Second District) area of the excavation site, and as MRY 5, the fifth wreck found on the Marmaray portion of the excavation site. Archaeologists identified other significant finds near the western end of the harbour, including what is possibly the only known portion of the city's Constantinian wall, a vaulted brick tunnel, workshops (possibly for leatherworking), and an 11th-century hypogeum, causing the Regional Protection Board to declare that this area would be preserved for use as an archaeological park (Gökçay, 2007: 172–174; Karamut, 2007: 13). Due to the resultant shift in construction activities away from the YK 11 area, the partially exposed hull was reburied in situ after March 2006, allowing archaeologists to focus on documenting and dismantling shipwrecks farther east, in the site's active construction zone. The YK 11 shipwreck was first fully exposed in early 2008; the INA team began work with the hull in May 2008, completing the on-site work in November 2008. The methodology followed by the INA team in the mapping, recording, and dismantling of the Yenikapı shipwrecks has been described in detail by Pulak et al. (2015: 42–45; see also Ingram and Jones, 2011: 10–13). The post-excavation documentation of the YK 11 hull remains was conducted by the author between June 2009 and April 2012. The hull of YK 11 and associated scattered fragments covered an approximately 5 × 10m area; the wreck itself was 9m in preserved length and 3m in preserved breadth. Radiocarbon analysis indicates that the ship was most likely built in the second quarter of the 7th century AD, with repairs made on multiple occasions later in that century (Table 1). The shipwreck was located in a viscous, muddy layer of sediment with shell inclusions, at a depth of 1.7–2.0m below present-day sea level. The nature of the sediment surrounding the hull is unlike the thick layer of sand farther east in the First District and Metro area, from which most of the other shipwrecks at Yenikapı were recovered (Perinçek, 2010: 206–208). The presence and location of damage from ship-worms, including Teredo navalis (teredo) and Limnoria spp. (gribble), and the distortion and displacement of some YK 11 timbers indicate that this ship did not sink in a sudden, catastrophic event that would have resulted in its quick burial under protective sediment. Rather, this dilapidated, heavily repaired vessel was more likely abandoned as a derelict in the neglected western corner of the Theodosian Harbour, an area that was quickly becoming unusable by larger ships due to increasing siltation. After the ship had been abandoned, and no doubt stripped of any useful timber, it slowly settled into the viscous mud and was inundated. The area around the ship continued to be used by fishing boats and other small vessels, as evidenced by several punting poles, oar blades, and oar handles found sticking upright in the mud around YK 11. Analyses by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums of a variety of artefacts found in and around the shipwreck, including sherds of amphoras and other pottery, broken terracotta oil lamps, and various objects of bone, glass, and metal, confirm that this area of the harbour had been used for dumping in the 7th and 8th centuries AD. While these scattered artefacts are not necessarily associated with the shipwreck and are thus of limited value in helping to date the vessel, a folded lead seal found within the ship matches a design used in imperial seals between AD 610 and 695 (Seibt, 1987: 36–37; Nesbitt, 1991: 2–3), providing a terminus post quem of c.AD 610 for the abandonment of the vessel. Approximately 40% of the wooden hull of YK 11 was preserved, most of it in excellent condition (Figs 2-4). The hull had settled on the floor of the harbour with a slight list to port.1 As a result, the port side of the ship was preserved up to the second wale, just above the first level of through-beams, while the starboard side was preserved only to the turn of the bilge. Most of the extant elements of the hull were found in situ or suffered only minor displacement. In addition, nearly 200 scattered wooden fragments, labelled 'UM' for unidentified member, were found near the hull; several of these were later identified as specific elements of the ship's construction that had been displaced. The ship was built predominantly of softwoods, in particular Turkish pine (Pinus brutia) and Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) (Fig. 5; wood species identification by Nili Liphschitz, Institute of Archaeology, The Botanical Laboratories, Tel Aviv University; Liphschitz, 2015: 615–616). The extant hull remains are presented here by type; a summary of the YK 11 catalogue is presented in Table 2. The tripartite keel of YK 11 consists of three scarfed timbers of Quercus cerris (Turkey oak) preserved in situ for a total length of 7.94m (Fig. 6, Table 3). The forward and aft portions of the keel are gently curved while the central (and longest) portion is approximately straight. The aft (Keel 1) and central (Keel 2) portions are complete and largely intact; the forward portion (Keel 3) is incomplete, its forward end broken and eroded. All three keel timbers are well preserved with most of their original surfaces. In form, there is only slight hogging to Keel 2 and distortion of its forward scarf, and there is distortion of the aft scarf of Keel 1. Each of the three keel timbers bears a shallow rabbet cut along the port and starboard faces, starting approximately 30mm below the inner face (Fig. 7). The rabbets, which accommodated the garboards and hood ends of the planking, are 9–15mm in depth and 29–48mm in total width. The keel timbers were entirely lacking in wooden fasteners; neither tenons nor treenails were present. Three types of iron fastener were documented on the keel timbers: bolts at the keel-scarf joints, short nails along the rabbets (for the attachment of garboards and strake hood ends), and longer nails on the inner (upper) face (for the attachment of frames). The iron fasteners of YK 11 had been reduced mostly to slushy ferrous sulphide; concretions preserving the form of nail or bolt heads were very rare. With the exception of keel-scarf bolts, there were no fasteners on the outer (lower) face of the keel. The three keel timbers were joined by well-preserved, keyed hook scarfs, 0.24–0.27m in length (Fig. 8). Similar scarfs have been observed on other Late Roman and Byzantine shipwrecks (e.g., Dramont E: Santamaria, 1995; Yassıada 1: Bass and van Doorninck, 1982; Tantura E: Israeli and Kahanov, 2014; Tantura F: Barkai and Kahanov, 2016), including many of the Yenikapı shipwrecks (Kocabaş, 2015; Pulak et al., 2015). Only the forward end of Keel 3, which is broken and eroded, did not bear evidence of a similar scarf. These hook scarfs would have fastened the elements of the keel and the sternpost together, locked in place with a small, rectangular, wooden key pressed up against the vertical step in the scarf table. YK 11's preserved scarf keys are of Turkey oak at the bow and European black pine (Pinus nigra) at the stern. The scarf joint was further reinforced with a 16mm-diameter iron bolt, driven from the hull exterior, that extended through the keel scarf, an associated floor timber, and the stemson and sternson. Evidence on Keel 2 indicates a bolt with a shallow, domed head, 36mm in diameter, that was not countersunk into the keel; a small ring of grass-like fibres formed a seal between the bolt head and the keel's outer surface. The port, starboard, inner, and scarf surfaces of the keel had been payed with pitch, now brownish-yellow in colour and 2–4mm thick (the term pitch will be used in this article, although some of the pitch may actually represent several coats of wood tar). Multiple applications of pitch during the life of the vessel are evidenced by a distinct pitch line on the sides of the keel at the bearding line and heavy pitch between frame locations on the keel's inner surface (Fig. 9). Thin pitch was observed in some parts of the rounded outer face, but it was poorly preserved due to wear and damage throughout this surface. The well-preserved planking of YK 11 comprises 58 distinct elements in a total of 17 strakes: 6 strakes on the starboard side, extending from the keel to the turn of the bilge, and 11 strakes on the port side, extending from the keel to just below the second wale (Fig. 10). Most of the planks are complete, and approximately half of the extant planks are both complete and intact. Plank seams toward the extremities had opened up slightly, exposing plank edges, and parts of the upper strakes, above strake nine on the port side, had slipped down behind lower strakes. The overall condition of these planks is excellent, with most exhibiting original surfaces and surface treatments, well-preserved tool marks, and caulking along plank edges. Nearly all of the planking is of Turkish pine; only two pieces, both small repair pieces, are of Mediterranean cypress. The planking of YK 11 includes planks that were part of the ship's original construction and planks that were later repairs or replacements (Table 4). Whether a plank is an original or repair piece is determined through several factors, the most important being the matching of fasteners on each plank with each extant frame. Both types of planking—original and repair—may be further divided into two subgroups. Original planks include planks below the waterline, edge-joined with mortise-and-tenon joints, and planks above the waterline, which were not edge-joined, beginning with strake ten (P 10) in the bow and strake nine (P 9) in the stern. Repair or replacement planks include graving pieces, which fill a (usually) small gap along one edge of a strake, and larger replacement planks, which span the width of an entire strake. Disregarding the 11 graving pieces, 28 of the ship's 47 extant planks (60%) were replacement planks (see Fig. 10), including the port and starboard garboards as well as nearly all bottom planking abaft midships, the latter perhaps indicative of repetitive beaching of the vessel or shipworm damage. This number does not necessarily represent the ratio of original-to-repair pieces in the entire hull at its abandonment, as the upper portion of the YK 11 hull, which is less extensively preserved, exhibits proportionally fewer repairs than the bottom of the hull. Nevertheless, the extent of repair to the planking of this hull is significant. The YK 11 planks are plainsawn boards with edges dubbed to form with an adze, at times roughly; plank edges are generally perpendicular to the plank face. Dubbing is rare along the planks' inner face, although patches of surface dubbing were observed at some scorched inner surfaces near the ship's extremities (Fig. 11). Due to the extent and nature of the repairs, complete plank lengths vary significantly (see Table 4). Original plank lengths at the time of the ship's construction are difficult to ascertain, first because so few of the original planks are complete, and second because even complete planks appear to have been cut down for repairs. Widths of original planks range from 65 to 210mm, while replacement planks—some of which could be replacing two strakes of original planking—reach up to 334mm in width. Thickness of the planks is more consistent, with overall average thicknesses of 20–25mm; the shorter, original planks between the two wales (P 12) are slightly thinner, with an average thickness of 18–23mm. Original planking below the waterline was edge-joined with small, unpegged mortise-and-tenon joints; 11 such planks were preserved, primarily in the forward half of the ship. Similar mortise-and-tenon joints are present on the 7th-century Yassıada (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 55–56, 82), Saint-Gervais 2 (Jézégou, 1983: 47; Pomey et al., 2012: 265), and Pantano Longarini shipwrecks (Throckmorton and Throckmorton, 1973: 263). Edge fastening ceased above strake eight (P 8) in the stern and strake nine (P 9) in the bow. Original planks at this transition have mortise-and-tenon joints along their lower edges but not along their top edges; edge fastening ceased in a similar manner on the 7th-century Yassıada ship (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 59). These 11 original planks retained evidence of 87 mortise-and-tenon joints. Mortises, chisel-cut without the aid of drilled pilot holes, are on average 47mm in width, 5mm in thickness, and 40mm in depth (Fig. 12). Despite being nearly twice the size of YK 11, the 7th-century Yassıada ship exhibited nearly identical dimensions in its mortises (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 55). Centre-to-centre spacing between mortises is highly variable, from 0.28 to 0.65m, with an overall average spacing of 0.45m. Due to the large number of replacement strakes and graving pieces, many of the ship's mortise-and-tenon joints were no longer functional by the time the ship was abandoned (see Fig. 10). On plank seams in which the abutting plank was a replacement, the mortises of the original plank were left 'blind', either containing a cut or broken half-tenon or fragments of a tenon, or having been filled in with pitch. Of the 87 mortise locations identified on YK 11, 32 (37%) were blind, lacking a corresponding mortise on the abutting plank. Even on seams for which both original planks are preserved, damage, often from Teredo navalis, had led to the cutting out of some mortise-and-tenon joints, subsequently replaced with a graving piece. Tenons or fragments thereof were found in 61 of the 87 mortise locations; five of these tenons were intact and complete. With average dimensions of 64 × 21 × 4mm, the tenons were much smaller than their mortises in terms of width and depth but were often wedged tightly in place by their thickness. Well-preserved mortise-and-tenon joints indicate that much of the remaining space along the sides of the mortise was filled in with pitch and grass-like fibres. Of 48 tenons sampled, 43 (90%) are Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), four are Turkey oak, and one is Sessile oak (Quercus petraea). Unpegged mortise-and-tenon joints, as found on YK 11 and other ships of similar date at Yenikapı and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, do not offer the same contribution to hull integrity as the pegged mortise-and-tenon joints seen in earlier hulls (e.g., the Kyrenia shipwreck: Steffy, 1985). The YK 11 mortise-and-tenon joints only restricted movement in two directions: they prevented relative movement between planks in the vertical direction (in other words, they maintained plank edge alignment), and they prevented longitudinal shifting along the plank seam (although this contribution is diminished by the small size of the tenon relative to the mortise). Since these mortise-and-tenon joints are not locked in place with transverse pegs, they provided only minimal resistance to the separating or opening of plank seams. Nevertheless, frictional resistance of the tenon in the mortise made the edge-joined planks of YK 11 somewhat more difficult to separate during the 2008 dismantling of the hull. A second form of edge fastening observed in the YK 11 planking is the use of a transverse iron nail to fasten a plank tip to the plank below it. This method of edge fastening plank tips is present at five locations in the extant YK 11 planking: it is used in two cases on replacement planks, and in three cases on original planking (one scarf tip and two drop strake ends). Securing plank tips in this manner has been practised since the Classical period, observed on the Kyrenia (Steffy, 1985: 78–81) and Nemi ships (Ucelli, 1950: 152–153), and continued to be used well into the Byzantine period, observed on the 7th-century Yassıada (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 59) and 11th-century Serçe Limanı ships (Bass et al., 2004: 107–108). It is noteworthy that the securing of the plank tip with a transverse iron nail is observed in the only preserved original scarf in the edge-joined planking, a gently curving S-scarf in strake P 8, near midships (length 0.69m; Fig. 13). This scarf was also edge-joined with a mortise-and-tenon joint along the central portion of the scarf. Remaining scarfs throughout the YK 11 planking are associated with one or more replacement planks; these scarfs are usually 0.30–0.60m in length, covering two or three frame stations. During the addition of replacement planks, the shipbuilder made an effort to place scarf tips or ends at frame locations so that they could be nailed directly to the frames, resulting in a wide variety of scarf shapes. Short iron nails, up to 80mm in length, fastened the garboards to the keel (see Fig. 7). Because both the port and starboard garboards of the ship had been replaced, only approximately one-half of the rabbet nail holes on the keel have a corresponding nail hole on the extant garboard; the other nail holes represent abandoned nail holes from the original garboard plank. No mortise-and-tenon joints were used at any time for affixing the garboards to the keel. Excluding abandoned nail holes, the garboard nail spacing averaged 0.29m, nearly twice the spacing of the garboard nails of Saint-Gervais wreck 2 (0.15m; Jézégou, 1983: 46). It is noteworthy that the replacement garboard planks were also nailed into the keel rabbet in the same manner as the original garboards, even though they could have been fastened only to the framing at the time of the repair. Hood ends are preserved on nine replacement planks and one original plank; these were fastened to the keel, stem, or sternpost of the ship with short iron nails driven through drilled pilot holes. A moderate inward bevel facilitated a tighter interface with the keel or endposts. In two instances, a graving piece (P 2–4, P 3–6) forms part of the hood end at the ship's bow. Score marks, cut with a scriber or other sharp blade, are visible along one or both edges of a frame at nearly every frame location on the original edge-joined planking. Although relatively rare and very faint, score marks are preserved at some futtock positions on strake ten (P 10), a strake lacking edge fasteners just below the first wale (P 11). Score marks are also present on some replacement planks, located at edges of some replacement frames (Fig. 14). Pine pitch or pitch stain usually covers the plank exterior and the inner plank surfaces between frames. Pine pitch was a known deterrent to shipworm (Theophr. Hist. pl. 5.4.5) and helped seal the hull to prevent leakage along plank seams. Faint pitch on the lower face of original frames at original planks suggests that the outer face of the frame had a layer of pitch applied to it prior to its installation in the hull. This would have provided the protection of pitch to an area vulnerable to rot while keeping other surfaces pitch-free and easier to work with until the construction could be completed, at which point the entire interior of the vessel could be payed with pitch. A similar application was noted on the late 4th- or early 5th-century Yassıada ship (van Doorninck, 1976: 124). Pitch was especially thick along YK 11 frame edges, indicating re-paying of pitch over the hull on several occasions. There is evidence for the use of both laid (applied) and driven caulking in the hull of YK 11. Up to 5mm thick, the caulking is composed of short, chopped segments of grass-like fibres heavily intermixed with pitch. Because it was easily washed away, both prior to and during excavation, caulking is rarely preserved where plank seams have opened up or been otherwise exposed, most often at hull extremities. That caulking was found inboard of intact tenons proves that, during the initial construction of the vessel, caulking was applied to edge-joined plank seams during assembly (Fig. 15). There is also ample evidence that thick, fibrous caulking was driven into seam gaps during the addition of graving pieces or replacement planks, or during routine maintenance. In the driven caulking, grass-like fibres (which were longer and better preserved than those of the laid caulking) were generally oriented perpendicular to the plank seam (Fig. 16). Along some edge-joined plank seams, in which both abutting planks were original, some tenons were cut and caulked over while other tenons along the same seam remained intact and uncut, indicating the re-caulking of deteriorated patches rather than a blanket re-caulking of all original, edge-joined seams later in the life of the vessel. This resulted in a mix of laid and driven caulking, and cut and intact tenons, along some original plank seams. Mortise-and-tenon construction is generally considered incompatible with driven caulking (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 72). However, laid caulking has been observed in some edge-fastened hulls, including the early 5th-century Port-Vendres 1 and Dramont E ships (Liou, 1974: 422, fig. 7; Santamaria, 1995: 149–150; see also Bockius, 2006). Evidence from these shipwrecks, in addition to YK 11 and other edge-joined ships found at Yenikapı (Pulak et al., 2015), challenges the conventional belief that the general presence of caulking indicates skeleton-based construction (Pomey et al., 2012: 297); the caulking must be analysed to determine whether it was driven or laid. On YK 11, fibrous caulking was also used to fill in knot holes, damaged areas, holes from pulled nails, and other irregularities along plank edges, some of which were surprisingly large, such as the 20mm-thick wad between plank S 2-2 and graving piece S 2–3 (Fig. 17). Char-bending was extensively used to help attain the desired form of the planks at the complex curves at the ship's extremities; it was observed on nearly every plank at the extremities, including both original and replacement planking. Char-bending continues to be used in traditional shipbuilding in areas including Indonesia and Pakistan (Greenhill, 1957; Hawkins, 1982), and possible evidence of the technique has been observed on several 1st-millennium-AD shipwrecks, including the Dramont E (Santamaria, 1995), Tantura A (Kahanov and Royal, 1996), Tantura E (Israeli and Kahanov, 2014), Tantura F (Barkai and Kahanov, 2007), and Dor D (Kingsley, 2002) ships and Yenikapı shipwrecks YK 14 (Jones, 2015, 2017), YK 17 (Kocabaş, 2008; Türkmenoğlu, 2012), and YK 23 (pers. obs.), among others. On YK 11, this technique is characterized by a scorching of the plank's inner face, resulting in a surface that is black or darker in colour and much harder than the remaining planking; in some areas, the wood is charred, with a carbonized and cracked surface (see Fig. 14). Charred or scorched surfaces in some areas were later trimmed with an adze, perhaps to create a smoother surface; similar dubbing was noted on charred plank surfaces of the Kyrenia ship (Steffy, 1985: 84). Two in situ wales were preserved on YK 11, port strakes P 11 (Wale 1) and P 13 (Wale 2); both wales are half-logs of Turkish pine, with bark removed from the rounded outer face. Based on evidence from disarticulated futtocks, the ship probably originally possessed four wales on either side. Neither in situ wale is complete. Wale 1 (P 11), with one original end, is 7.24m in length, nearly 7m of which remained intact. The preserved length of Wale 2 (P 13), broken into three pieces, is 4.28m; neither end is original, and this wale exhibits more extensive damage along its exposed top edge. The wales (maximum width 0.16–0.17m, maximum thickness 0.08m) taper in the direction of growth; as in the Yassıada 1 ship (Bass and van Doorninck, 1982: 78–79), the two extant YK 11 wales were installed with the direction of growth in opposite directions. Upper and lower edges of the semi-circular timbers were dubbed flat with an adze in some (but not all) areas. There is no evidence of the use of edge joinery in either the in situ wales or the disarticulated wale-like fragments. The after end of Wale 1 (P 11) terminates in a flat scarf, 0.38m in length; the wale timber to which it was scarfed was not preserved. A similar scarf was observed on the wale of the Serçe Limanı hull, altho
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