The Ljubljanica — a River and its Past edited by Peter Turk, Janka Istenié, Timotej Knific and Tomaz Nabergoj‘The Uvbanica =a River ana Part Acargo ship of Mediterranean sewn construction from Lipe In October 1890, at Brezov login Lipe in the eastern part ofthe Ljubljansko bare (Ljubljana Marshes), 3om long cargo ship from the Roman period was discovered, which represents the best confirmation ofthe statements made by ancient ‘geographers about the importance ofthe naviga ble route along the Ljubljanica.’ ‘The barge was discovered by chance by work: ‘ers digging a drainage ditch on the property of Dr. Josip Koster between the Ljubljanica and the Gmavas-Podpeé road «rs, 1»). The owner of the land informed the curator ofthe Landesmuseum at Ljubljana (present-day National Museum of Slow- Andrej Gaspari nia), Alfons Mallner, and permitted him to exca vate, Mllner published an exhaustive description and a drawing inthe very next yearin the museum journal Argo. The National Museum of Slovenia keeps 100 wooden parts of the boat and 20 ion nails and to aid in determining the ship construc tion the original field sketches ae stil available, along with two photographs, and an exact 3m long ‘model ata seale of 1:40, two examples of which were made Fs. 120) ‘The great age ofthe vessel, which was doubted, bysome atthe time of discovery because ofits sim- ilarties to moder period ships, is proven both by the Greco-Roman manner of construction as well as the results of radiocarbon analyses. On the basis ofthe analyses undertaken in 2002, itean be ‘concluded thatthe ship was builtin the 1 century BBC, while the three earlier dates most probably referto the use of some older wood: “The barge was symmetrical, with an elongated ‘oval form and truncated ends, Itwas 3om long, 4.8m wide, and o.6m high. thad a flat bottom ‘without a keel and ourwards-sloping sides res. 120,120. The self-supporting hull, which repre- sents the main characteristic of Mediterranean ships in antiquity, was composed ofa carvel base and lateral planking from symmetrically ar-Fou 121 tomate projection o etal at‘The ubonica—a River nats Past .ged spruce planks in lengthwise strakes, The flowing transition between base and sides was achieved with planks of rounded section. The ele- ‘ments ofthe planking were joined together with ropes of lime bast, which were pulled through densely set oblique holes drilled into the side edges of the planks. The cords held in place bun: dles of the same material, which were placed on the straight lateral and oblique transverse june: tures of the planks in individual strakes, in order to make them watertight. After the sewing was finished, the holes were closed with pegs of black alder wood, ‘AMediterranean technological origin is further indicated by the joining ofthe lateral planking with wooden dowels of circular section, which had been inserted into mortices in two neighbouring planks before sewing. The skeleton was formed by transverse floor timbers of oak wood and the pairs of kneeshaped ribs, which extended from the next-to-last bottom plank tthe top of the lat- eral planking. The floor-timbers and ribs, builtin atuniform intervals of 60cm, were attached tothe hull with wooden dowels anda few iron nails. The “uniform intervals between the floor t ribs, which correspond to two Capit ‘pes monetalis=29.7em), indicate that the Roman ‘measuring system was probably used. ‘The bow and stern both ended in a simply sloping wal, therefore they could be dist guished merely from the position ofthe standing place for the helmsman, which might indicate the use of a rudder. Two bands of lengthwise planks along the middle of the ship served as an additional reinforcement ofthe hull, aswell as for placement of eargo. ‘The construction features included the tech: nique of sewing, which has been documented the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age onvards, and was very probably known in even earlier pe rods.’ The sunken remains of vessels and ieono- ‘graphic as well as epigraphic sources tellus that sewing was in use primarily between the Archaic period and the 4* century BC. In the Mediter- ranean the sewing technique remained in use particulary in the Adriatic Sea and inits northern hinterland, as in the ate Republican and early Imperial period it was used both for building sex going ships as wel as river and lagoon vessels. Dating to approximately the same period are the remains of three ships recovered from the sedi- ‘ments of the harbour of Roman Aenona atZaton near Nin,’ and the recently discovered boat from ‘Caska Bay on the island of Pag which confirm historical citations ofthe use ofthis technique among the Histrians and Liburnians. The finds of sewn ships from the rivers, lagoons, canals, and swamps ofthe western coastline of the northem ‘Adriatic’ include the well preserved remains of ‘boat in the Po delta near Comacchio,*and the shipwreck from the river Stella near (Presenit) in Italy The geographi of the type of barge from Lipe was probably the continental waters of Cisalpine Gaul, where the shallow waters and periodic flooding predicated the development ofa vessel witha shallow draft and. flat hull, as mentioned by the historian Ti tus Livius (Livy, 4b urbe condita, X.2). The form ‘of the boat corresponds best to the Roman term pontonium (Isidorus, Etymologiae, 19. 1.24), used inthe early medieval period to denote large and slow river vessels intended for the transportation ‘of goods. “The increased transportation requirements afcer the Roman conquest meant that efficient vessels of similar form and dimensions to those of the barge from Lipe began to be used on the rivers and lakes of continental Europe." Cargo vessels ofthe Celtic Roman type indicate technological solutions that some authors tie to pre-Roman, traditions, as well as series of details that defi nitely indicate a Mediterranean origin. Te latter ‘ean also be recognized in the construction of the planking and frame of a cargo boat from the Kupa River in Sisak(Sisia), dated tothe middle of the century AD.” “The majority of such efficient transportation vessels from the Germanic and Gallic provinces ‘were discovered in the vicinity of military strong: hholds, and hence it appears that for the most part these were strategic means that satisfied the logistic needs of the Roman army. The remains of eargoes indicate that they mostly transported construction material stone, brick, and tle), breakable goods (pottery, glass), and preserved19) Ande Gaspar Acorao ship foodstuffs in sacks and bartels, On the basis of the ‘general dating, it ean be concluded that the barge from Lipe was used for the transportation of mili- tary goods between the supply base at Nauportus and Emon Noes 20 Bert 90. 4 Saiel Kos 1990, 17-20. 4 Viti eral. 2005. 2 Mallner 38924, 412 Bocklus 2000, 465-488, 3 Karinja 1998. fig. 27. 4 Theas yet unpublished 13 Gaspari, Bri, Smaleelj 2006, analysis was performed by 14 Illustration by. Dolinar, the Research aboratoryfor concept by A. Gaspari, Archaeology and the History of Ar at Oxford, Calibration ofthe dates was executed in the Oxcal 4.0 programme, using ntCal og eurve, Floor-imber(B 3881/1-3; 0x 111496) age 2037 £37 PS, calibrated (68.2% probabil iy) 94 BC-AD 18, Plank (B 3881/9371; Ox4-11497) 2064 + 39, calibrated (68.2% probability) 161 BC-40 BC. 5 Bxi€ 1994; Gaspari 1998, 19 6 Pomey 1985. 7 Brusig, Domjan 1985; Glussevié 2005, 8 Celhar 2008. 9 Beltrame 2000.