16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

99 Zadar, Croatia | 26 September – 1 October 2021 Anita Jelić & Mladen Pešić International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar, Croatia Condura Croatica – A Revision of the Structural Drawings Two early Croatian wooden boats of the Condura Croatica type were discovered at the mouth of the Nin cove in 1966 and 1968. These boats are late eleventh or early twelfth century vessels and are unique examples of the maritime tradition of the medieval period early Croatian rulers. In 1974 the boats were extracted from their marine environment, followed by the conservation and reconstruction of one of the boats and the exhibition of both at the Museum of Nin Antiquities, a division of the Archaeological Museum of Zadar. As time passed, however, sig- nificant degradation processes were observed of the wooden elements of these boats. The University of Zadar worked with the University of Tel Aviv in 2008 and the Texas A&M University in 2010 to analyse samples of the wood: it was deter- mined that a range of chemical and physical processes, and the inadequate con- ditions in which the boats were kept, was causing the destruction of the wood- en structure. Based on these insights a comprehensive conservation-restoration procedure was initiated in 2016. The project is funded through the Ministry of Culture and Media and carried out by specialists of the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar. During the cleaning of the frames it was ob- served that a gap filling mixture was present at a thickness of up to five centime- tres between the planking and frames. Bearing in mind the possible spreading out of the boat’s planking that may have come about during the sinking of the vessels, the effects of the seawater, and the possible dimensional changes that occurred during the process of the impregnation and drying of the wooden material, there is an evident need to revise the structural drawings. With the aid of new digital imaging and the production of the lines of the boats on the basis of these images, we will endeavour to ascertain if the current state of the Condura Croatica boats is consistent with their original form.