An overview of three decades of dendrochronology applied to ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks in southeastern France

Frédéric Guibal (1) , Alba Ferreira Dominguez (2) , Giulia Boetto (2) , Lisa Shindo (2) , Sandra Greck (3) , Patrice Pomey (2)

1 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
2 CCJ - Centre Camille Jullian - Histoire et archéologie de la Méditerranée et de l'Afrique du Nord de la protohistoire à la fin de l'Antiquité
3 Arkaeos

Three decades of dendrochronology applied to ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks in southeastern France have resulted in a considerable improvement in knowledge about the wood resources used in ancient shipbuilding. However, in terms of dating, the success rate of dendrochronological analyses is still very low. The possible causes of this low rate are discussed through two case studies: the first pertaining to the shipwrecks from the ancient harbour of Toulon (1 st-3 rd centuries AD); the second to a couple of fluvial barges discovered in the Rhône River (mid 1 st-beginning of the 2 nd centuries AD).

Mots clés: Dendrochronology; Mediterranean; Rhône River; Roman; shipbuilding; Toulon

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Frédéric Guibal, Alba Ferreira Dominguez, Giulia Boetto, Lisa Shindo, Sandra Greck, et al.. An overview of three decades of dendrochronology applied to ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks in southeastern France. G. Boetto; P. Pomey; P. Poveda. Open sea, closed sea: local and inter-regional traditions in shipbuilding proceedings of the fifteenth International symposium on boat and ship archaeology (ISBSA 15), Marseilles, [22-27 October] 2018, 21, CNRS éditions, pp.245-250, 2021, Archaeonautica, 978-2-271-12972-7. ⟨halshs-03388945⟩