WRECK OF CAPO BIANCO A. XVIII-XIX CENTURY A.D.
PIPE BOWL
MUSAS Ref. No.:
CAPCOL-22
Inv. No.
Cons. G. Cantafora 7.09.1991
Description
Terracotta pipe bowl.
Dimensions
cm 5; max. width cm 4,5; max bowl diam. cm 3
Materials
Terracotta
Location
Depot, National Archaeological Museum of Capo Colonna
Origin
Wreck of Capo Bianco A
Dating
XVIII – first half of XIX century A.D.
Biological degradation
The artefact presents a superficial (epilithic) colonisation with a white layer of calcareous nature. Such degradation is attributable to the thalli of encrusting red algae (Rhodophyceae). Inside the pipe bowl there are little calcareous tubes made by sedentary sea worms (Polychaeta serpulidae).
References
BELTRAME, LAZZARINI, MEDAGLIA 2012, pp. 13-14; BELTRAME, MEDAGLIA 2012
REFERENCES
Beltrame C., Medaglia S. 2012, Il relitto di Capo Bianco (Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Crotone): un caso di trasporto transmarino di marmo tra ’700 e ’800, in Archeologia e Memoria storica, Atti delle Giornate di studio (Viterbo 25-26 March 2009), “Daidalos” 13, Viterbo, pp. 371-388.
Beltrame C., Lazzarini L., Medaglia S. 2012, Underwater Investigation on a Marble Cargo Wreck at Capo Bianco near Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Crotone, Italy, in IJNA, 41, 1, pp. 3-16.
The wreck of Capo Bianco A, located just north of Capo Rizzuto, has been identified and preliminarily investigated by the Superintendency in 1991, then underwent a meticulous survey led by Carlo Beltrame and Salvatore Medaglia in 2008, thanks to which we obtained a new historical and archaeological contextualisation of the submerged site. 1
The site, located amid dangerous shoals, is represented mainly by the items on board which include 80 marble elements of various colours (red, black, white).
The load of marble blocks of Capo Bianco was initially dated to the Roman times, but the new studies conducted in 2008, thanks to petrological analyses, allowed for identifying Carrara, French Red and Portargento marbles, which undoubtedly suggest a post-medieval dating of the vessel. This chronology is suggested also by the presence of some artefacts (terracotta smoking pipes, ceramics, copper lamina from the outer layer of the hull) that can be dated back to the mid-XVIII century and the first half of the XIX century (2).
The 3D scans at the bottom of this page reproduces the above mentioned smoking pipe.
NOTES
1 Medaglia 2010, pp. 342-343
2 Beltrame, Medaglia 2012; Beltrame, Lazzarini, Medaglia 2012.
REFERENCES
Beltrame C., Medaglia S. 2012, Il relitto di Capo Bianco (Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Crotone): un caso di trasporto transmarino di marmo tra ’700 e ’800, in Archeologia e Memoria storica, Atti delle Giornate di studio (Viterbo 25-26 March 2009), “Daidalos” 13, Viterbo, pp. 371-388.
Beltrame C., Lazzarini L., Medaglia S. 2012, Underwater Investigation on a Marble Cargo Wreck at Capo Bianco near Isola di Capo Rizzuto, Crotone, Italy, in IJNA, 41, 1, pp. 3-16.
Medaglia S. 2010, Carta archeologica della provincia di Crotone: paesaggi storici e insediamenti nella Calabria centro-orientale dalla Preistoria all’Altomedioevo, Ricerche IV. Collana del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università della Calabria, Rossano.