2006 SEASON
Our return to Kızılburun in 2006 necessitated the rebuilding
of several vital camp structures constructed the previous
summer but subsequently destroyed during the winter months
by rough seas and an isolated cyclone. Working excavation
dives for our entire team began
on June 20, following the installation of the safety,
mapping, and excavation equipment. Our archaeological goals
were again twofold: 1) completing the excavation of the
ship's secondary marble cargo in the area upslope of the
central drum pile and 2) raising and relocating off-site
some of the drums themselves.
The continued excavation of the upslope area
resulted in the raising of more than one dozen large marble
blocks, five additional grave stelai, a second marble
pedestal, and a large 230-pound lead anchor stock. Small
finds include a variety of Hellenistic ceramics (plates,
pans, cups, jugs, and an oil lamp), a worn bronze coin, and
a wonderful terracotta herm figurine. A herm was a kind of
personified pillar that served as a boundary marker in
transitional areas such as crossroads and doorways; places
where underworld spirits were believed to congregate. Days
of patient airlifting in the deep sand revealed a cluster of
intact transport amphoras belonging to the Lamboglia 2 type
(which represents the largest group of a single type from
the wreck); another amphora in the group was likely produced
in ancient Colchis on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.
Toward the middle of July, we turned our attention to the
raising and relocation off-site of the wrecks massive
marble column drums, which weigh between 6 ½ and 7 ½ tons
each. To accomplish this, we developed a system whereby each
drum was outfitted with three nylon lifting straps,
carefully maneuvered into place under the bottom of the
drum, which often lay directly atop the ship's delicate
wooden hull remains. Richard Fryburg of Subsalve, Inc.
supplied us with four 4,000-pound lift balloons to raise
each drum, and by the end of August we had succeeded in
safely relocating off-site four of the eight drums (see
photo above).
