A 2,200-year-old Roman Republic shipwreck off the coast of what is now Croatia is giving researchers a closer look at how ancient ships were waterproofed, according to ScienceDaily.
Scientists in France and Croatia studied the protective coating on the wreck, known as Ilovik-Paržine 1, which was discovered in 2016. The study, published in Frontiers in Materials, is the first to combine molecular and pollen analysis to identify the materials used on the hull and help reconstruct the environment where those materials were produced and applied.
According to the researchers, 10 coating samples showed that the ship was mainly treated with heated conifer resin or tar, also known as pitch. One sample contained a mix of pine tar and beeswax, a combination known to Greek shipbuilders as zopissa.
The team also examined pollen trapped in the sticky coatings. That evidence pointed to a mix of coastal, valley, and mountainous vegetation from the Adriatic region, and suggested the vessel may have received four to five separate coating applications over time. Earlier work on the ship's ballast had pointed to Brundisium, now Brindisi in Italy, as a possible place where the ship was built, and the new study suggests some coatings may also have been applied there or along the northeastern Adriatic coast.
