Meggie Macdonald

Found in the Caska Bay near Novalja on the Croatian island of Pag, Professor Zdenko Brusic and his team have announced the discovery of a Roman sewn ship during the excavations of the sunken Roman town of Cissa.

A sewn ship is literally a ship made from pieces of tree bark that have been soaked in tar and then sewn together.  Once the bark hardens, the ship is both watertight and lightweight.  Excavating the site where the ship was found is expected to take two years.

What is interesting to note is that, apart from reference to this particular find, there is very little information available online for Roman sewn ships.  I would imagine that some work has been done, but it has clearly not made it into the public domain as yet so more research into this technique is needed before this writer can make a more complete post on the artifact.