16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

71 Zadar, Croatia | 26 September – 1 October 2021 Ita Praničević Borovac University of Split, Split, Croatia Ship Graffiti of the Eastern Adriatic Coast On the coastal and island area of Dalmatia there are over 30 sites with graffiti depicting ships. Since many of them have more than one, and often several draw- ings, their total number exceeds one hundred. Each one is unique. Only few draw- ings date back to antiquity; there are a dozen sites with drawings from the Middle Ages, and most of the graffiti were done between the 16 th and 20 th century. The drawings made by charcoal, carved on the plaster or stone surfaces of the walls vary in quality, ranging from clumsy sketches to detailed representations of parts of ships and their equipment. The question remains what is their purpose and meaning. Most of the drawings are found on the walls of sacral buildings, whether small churches or ca- thedrals, suggesting their votive or devotional character. Even if we cannot recon- struct the process of their creation, what we can read from them is the description of the vessels shown in the drawings, the shape of the ships, the number of masts and oars, the type of sails etc. These drawings are primary historical sources. They are documents of time and traces of human communication through the images.