16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

41 Zadar, Croatia | 26 September – 1 October 2021 Stella Demesticha 1 & Carlos de Juan 2 1 University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus 2 University of València, València, Spain; Institute of Nautical Archaeology, USA The Mazotos Shipwreck: Preliminary results of the hull investigation The 4 th century BC shipwreck that was found at -44m off the south coast of Cy- prus, near the village of Mazotos, is a coherent wreck-site of an ancient mer- chantman. Most of its main cargo, wine amphorae from the island of Chios in the Aegean, was still in situ when it was discovered. Archaeological investigations at the site have been carried out since 2007 by the University of Cyprus, in collabora- tion with the Department of Antiquities and the Cyprus University of Technology. After seven excavation seasons, a good part of the hull has been unburied, mainly at the fore part of the ship. The starboard side is the best preserved one, and its exposed sections include part of the keel and eight strakes, with six frames and a stringer still in situ . The excavation of the amphora cargo over the hull progresses slowly, given its considerable volume and the site’s depth. Thanks to the extensive and suc- cessful use of photogrammetry, however, the documentation of the timbers was achieved with very good accuracy. Evidence thus far suggests that it was a round bottom ship, fastened with pegged mortise and tenons. Some ‘archaic’ features, such as the trapezoidal cross section frames and the framing pattern, as well as the presence of tetrahedral openings, open the question of the ship’s broader technological and cultural context, and underscore the contribution of this pro- ject to our knowledge for shipbuilding traditions in the eastern Mediterranean during the Classical period.