This week we continued working with the site plan and it is very near completion. Everyone has been able to place their 10 foot mylar sections on and the only thing left to do is correct the edges of each section so that everyone’s individual work combines together to make one cohesive product. Following that only details and fastener patterns remain. At this stage the vessel can finally be seen as it remains in the river and although formal interpretations will take a long time to formulate, preliminary interpretations have already begun.

As soon as the last section was added to the plan and everyone involved with the project stepped back and began looking at the vessel as a complete object and not scatted timbers in a ten foot square. Immediately we all began asking questions, examining problem areas and debating over the placement and orientation of particular scantlings, instantly illustrating the value of this process as an archaeological tool.

The discussion that was of highest concern regarded the futtock and floor timber assembly. In plan view the vessel appears to be double-framed, meaning that each frame was actually a pair of frames side-by-side and fastened together. However, in some sections where ceiling planking was not present it was possible to see the frames as they met with the keel and keelson. At this point it appears that only one of the frames actually has a floor timber and the other pair is simply a futtock that butts up against the keelson.

This was debated for quite a while, possibly because nobody could draw well enough on the dry-erase board to convey their point. Perhaps the best progress we have made this week was in our appreciation of seeing all of or hard work coming together and realizing the practicality of the methods we have been learning. Before inking begins we still have a lot of items of debate to sort out.

 

For more information you can visit the ECU website at:
http://www.ecu.edu/maritime/index.htm

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The Museum of
Underwater Archaeology
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Last updated 5 Nov 2006