Ebook: Maritime Studies in the Wake of the Byzantine Shipwreck at Yassıada, Turkey

Foreword by George F. Bass.

Excavated in the 1960s under the direction of George F. Bass and Frederick van Doorninck, the seventh century Yassıada shipwreck oft the coast of Turkey marked a milestone in the development of underwater mapping and documentation methods, many of which are still in use today. Yassıada was the first shipwreck with significant hull remains to be fully excavated, and subsequent study and analysis of the ship have helped to illuminate one of the most complex and little-understood periods in ancient history.

In 2007, a symposium was held at Texas A&M University to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Texas A&M University Press’s publication of the first volume of the Yassıada excavation report. Seventeen papers from that symposium, representing the work of scholars from six different countries, were selected for this publication. These studies broadly illustrate such varied topics as ships and seafaring life, maritime trade, naval texts, commercial cargoes, and recent developments in the analysis of the Yassiada ship itself. They explore novel interpretations of old material, new methods of interrogating historical sources, and new theories about our understanding of trade, economy, technology, and cultural diversity in the waning Roman Empire. The relevance and legacy of the excavation and publication of the Yassiada shipwreck is clear not only in the attention that it continues to receive, but also in the generations of scholars whose work has been shaped or influenced by this well-known excavation.