The Oldest Boats Ever Found in the Mediterranean
April 14, 2024 2:40 AM Subscribe
Five Canoes Discovered Northwest of Rome Are the Oldest Boats Ever Found in the Mediterranean. The 7000-year-old vessels offer evidence of advanced seafaring technology and an extensive regional trade network, a new study suggests.
For more than 30 years, one of Italy’s most well-hidden archaeological treasures has been an underwater village called La Marmotta.
The site, with well-preserved artifacts, was discovered in 1989 in a lake just northwest of Rome and 23 miles upstream from the Mediterranean Sea. Found among its wooden buildings were five canoes, stretching up to 32 feet long and made from hollowed-out trees. Estimated to be 7,000 years old, the boats showed signs of being equipped with advanced maritime technology, including towing accessories and reinforcements.
Because the original discovery of La Marmotta had only ever been published in the Italian language, widespread study of the canoes and their place in history remained limited. But now that a team of international researchers revisited the site and published their findings in English in the journal PLOS One, scientists around the world are learning about the boats for the first time—and the bustling, sophisticated Mediterranean trade they suggest.
For more than 30 years, one of Italy’s most well-hidden archaeological treasures has been an underwater village called La Marmotta.
The site, with well-preserved artifacts, was discovered in 1989 in a lake just northwest of Rome and 23 miles upstream from the Mediterranean Sea. Found among its wooden buildings were five canoes, stretching up to 32 feet long and made from hollowed-out trees. Estimated to be 7,000 years old, the boats showed signs of being equipped with advanced maritime technology, including towing accessories and reinforcements.
Because the original discovery of La Marmotta had only ever been published in the Italian language, widespread study of the canoes and their place in history remained limited. But now that a team of international researchers revisited the site and published their findings in English in the journal PLOS One, scientists around the world are learning about the boats for the first time—and the bustling, sophisticated Mediterranean trade they suggest.
So cool! Thank you for posting this.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:37 AM on April 14
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:37 AM on April 14
No discussion of ancient Mediterranean marine artifacts is complete without a hat tip to the
in Pozzuoli, now a suburb of Naples. A print of the Temple served as the frontispiece of volume I of Charles Lyell's 1830 Principles of Geology. Lyell's concept of Uniformitarianism became a guiding principle of the scientific world-view. The idea is that, given sufficient time, processes with which we are familiar today could have caused all the geological changes which shape the landscape and oceans today.
The Temple of Serapis was key bit of evidence for this hypothesis. You can see the columns of the ruined temple at the water's edge today on dry land as it must have been when it was constructed nearly 2,000 years ago. But close inspection shows that the base of each column is perforated with little holes aka gastrochaenolites which are definitively characteristic of burrowing marine molluscs of the genus Lithophaga [rock-eater]. Unless you believe in Loki the trickster god, the only rational explanation is that the whole temple gently lowered itself into the Mediterranean like Lyell's maiden aunt; wet its whistle for a couple of centuries; and then rose stately but dripping out the sea again. If a section of the Campanian coast could yo-yo 10m up and down between 100CE and 1800CE, then the formation of the Andes was conceivable without calling for help from Jupiter, Poseidon or any other supernatural tinkering: sufficient time will suffice.
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:16 AM on April 14 [7 favorites]
in Pozzuoli, now a suburb of Naples. A print of the Temple served as the frontispiece of volume I of Charles Lyell's 1830 Principles of Geology. Lyell's concept of Uniformitarianism became a guiding principle of the scientific world-view. The idea is that, given sufficient time, processes with which we are familiar today could have caused all the geological changes which shape the landscape and oceans today.
The Temple of Serapis was key bit of evidence for this hypothesis. You can see the columns of the ruined temple at the water's edge today on dry land as it must have been when it was constructed nearly 2,000 years ago. But close inspection shows that the base of each column is perforated with little holes aka gastrochaenolites which are definitively characteristic of burrowing marine molluscs of the genus Lithophaga [rock-eater]. Unless you believe in Loki the trickster god, the only rational explanation is that the whole temple gently lowered itself into the Mediterranean like Lyell's maiden aunt; wet its whistle for a couple of centuries; and then rose stately but dripping out the sea again. If a section of the Campanian coast could yo-yo 10m up and down between 100CE and 1800CE, then the formation of the Andes was conceivable without calling for help from Jupiter, Poseidon or any other supernatural tinkering: sufficient time will suffice.
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:16 AM on April 14 [7 favorites]
Ah Pozzuoli! Home of that other amphitheater.
But as we're talking submarine cities, and temples of Serapis, we must also check out neighboring Baia, the Ibiza of ancient Rome, now below water. You can book tours.
posted by BWA at 10:43 AM on April 14 [2 favorites]
But as we're talking submarine cities, and temples of Serapis, we must also check out neighboring Baia, the Ibiza of ancient Rome, now below water. You can book tours.
posted by BWA at 10:43 AM on April 14 [2 favorites]
It’s interesting that the area was home to a maritime culture, which was largely lost. The Romans and their allies in Italy were notably mediocre sailors until war with Carthage forced them to step up their game. I realize that there were thousands of years in between, but it’s still sad and sobering that such a critical area of knowledge could be lost.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:46 AM on April 14
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:46 AM on April 14
> ... but it’s still sad and sobering that such a critical area of knowledge could be lost.
Thousands of years is indeed a long time. I don't have the mythic date of the Founding of Rome at my fingertips but it's later than 1000 BCE, so at least 4000 years after the La Marmotta people were sailing the Med in tree-trunk canoes. For purposes of comparison, think about the demographic changes in the British Isles over just the last 2000 years. The people who were living at Londinium under the Romans have been completely subsumed, or the last remnant of any culture with continuity with theirs is out in the sticks in Wales(1). The interval between the La Marmotta people was twice that and change, and the Roman founding myth is explicit on the topic of themselves a immigrants, not acknowledging any connection with any local predecessor.
Such losses likely happened over and over and over again, I am suggesting, with no trace of them being preserved.
(1) And this change is largely the result of pre-modern events. There were multiple waves of invasions before the Normans came 1000 years ago and stole everything in a way that's stayed nailed down ever since. Pre-modern (that is, pre-1500s and especially pre-1000s) Europe was constantly shifting demographic landscape, and there was no end to it until gunpowder armies got good enough to stand off horse archers at the beginning of the modern era.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 12:25 PM on April 14 [3 favorites]
Thousands of years is indeed a long time. I don't have the mythic date of the Founding of Rome at my fingertips but it's later than 1000 BCE, so at least 4000 years after the La Marmotta people were sailing the Med in tree-trunk canoes. For purposes of comparison, think about the demographic changes in the British Isles over just the last 2000 years. The people who were living at Londinium under the Romans have been completely subsumed, or the last remnant of any culture with continuity with theirs is out in the sticks in Wales(1). The interval between the La Marmotta people was twice that and change, and the Roman founding myth is explicit on the topic of themselves a immigrants, not acknowledging any connection with any local predecessor.
Such losses likely happened over and over and over again, I am suggesting, with no trace of them being preserved.
(1) And this change is largely the result of pre-modern events. There were multiple waves of invasions before the Normans came 1000 years ago and stole everything in a way that's stayed nailed down ever since. Pre-modern (that is, pre-1500s and especially pre-1000s) Europe was constantly shifting demographic landscape, and there was no end to it until gunpowder armies got good enough to stand off horse archers at the beginning of the modern era.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 12:25 PM on April 14 [3 favorites]
And hence, cpbc's acknowledged MetaMVP status.
posted by kensington314 at 12:42 PM on April 14 [1 favorite]
posted by kensington314 at 12:42 PM on April 14 [1 favorite]
I love this. Thanks for the post, cpbc, and for the extra links, BWA. The "only ever published in Italian" is definitely BS - it's trivial to find much older English-language references if you know how to, like, use date range search.
It's funny to me to see people immediately thinking about Rome when reading something like this, when the people of La Marmotta were further in the past from the founding of Rome (~4,000 years) than the founding of Rome is from us (~3,000 years). But I guess I'm a person who thinks about the Neolithic every day instead...
posted by McBearclaw at 1:02 PM on April 14 [3 favorites]
It's funny to me to see people immediately thinking about Rome when reading something like this, when the people of La Marmotta were further in the past from the founding of Rome (~4,000 years) than the founding of Rome is from us (~3,000 years). But I guess I'm a person who thinks about the Neolithic every day instead...
posted by McBearclaw at 1:02 PM on April 14 [3 favorites]
In my case, it was more that it seems like a very central and foundational thing to do that was largely forgotten. It would be like forgetting agriculture or how to make baskets, which I suppose you could find cultures that did that, too, which would also be sad and sobering. The arc of history is not always toward knowledge and progress.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:15 PM on April 14
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:15 PM on April 14
I'm currently reading 1177 B.C. by Eric Cline. The Mediterranean area had a very sophisticated international trade network, a lot of which was maritime, by the end of the Late Bronze Age. of course these boats are quite a bit earlier, but are a thrilling indication of the older history that might have led to the advances seen in the LBA. of course the whole premise of the book is that the civilizations in that area faced a general collapse around the late 12c. B.C. so yes, A LOT was lost!! so much. some of it for good. and centuries later the Romans had not returned to that level of maritime sophistication.
this is a fascinating find and also I am TOTES going to snorkel in Baia next time I'm in Italy!!!
posted by supermedusa at 1:24 PM on April 14 [4 favorites]
this is a fascinating find and also I am TOTES going to snorkel in Baia next time I'm in Italy!!!
posted by supermedusa at 1:24 PM on April 14 [4 favorites]
I haven’t read it but apparently 1177 B.C. has a graphic novel version as well.
posted by Eikonaut at 3:49 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
posted by Eikonaut at 3:49 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
Whoops. It will be available in a couple of days (April 16).
posted by Eikonaut at 3:50 PM on April 14 [1 favorite]
posted by Eikonaut at 3:50 PM on April 14 [1 favorite]
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Seriously?
More on La Marmotta, a place with much else of interest besides boats. Sickles, anyone? (There's a book out for the seriously interested.)
News to me in any event, and much appreciated.
posted by BWA at 7:01 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]