The Marsala Punic Warship

An exceptional wreck means far more than the sum of its wooden parts; many features of this well preserved after-end of a cargo-less vessel are unique and heavy with implication. Phoenicio-Punic writing is one of them: when first excavated the black calligraphy showed clearly on pine-wood planking that was still yellow, just as the "dunnage" (or leafy branches laid to protect bottoms from ballast) was still green. Both soon faded on exposure to the light and oxygen in the water, but not before focusing attention on the wreck's chemical environment and - for reasons of "nationality" - on its geographic background. The place where a seagoing ship sank is usually of minor interest because, unlike river craft, ancient seagoing vessels usually carry no clue to where and by whom they were built, or to how many owners they may have had before sinking. This makes it impossible to assign any particular design of hull to any particular Mediterranean region, so leaving a serious gap in our knowledge of ship architecture.