{"id":3048,"date":"2026-04-24T07:36:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=3048"},"modified":"2026-04-24T07:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:36:44","slug":"roman-shipwreck-pollen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=3048","title":{"rendered":"2,200-year-old Roman shipwreck unlocks mysteries of how ships were built and repaired"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About 2,200 years ago, a Roman Republic ship sank off the coast of modern-day Croatia, with wood and amphorae (ancient storage containers) of wine on board. Scientists are not sure why it sank, but the Ilovik\u2013Par\u017eine 1 shipwreck was discovered in 2016. However, the archeologists<\/a> and researchers behind a new study published today in the journal Frontiers in Materials<\/em><\/a> weren\u2019t interested in its precious cargo. The ship\u2019s critical waterproofing layer was their treasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This unique protective layer on a ship<\/a> traps pollen in its stickiness just like tree sap<\/a>. By studying the type and quantity of pollen, as well as the molecular composition of the coating itself, researchers can start forming theories about where the boat was when this essential coating was created and applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn archaeology little attention is paid to organic waterproofing materials. Yet they are essential for navigation at sea or on rivers and are true witnesses of past naval technologies,\u201d Armelle Charri\u00e9-Duhaut<\/a>, first author of the paper and an archaeometrist from the University of Strasbourg in France, said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As such, Charri\u00e9-Duhaut and her colleagues employed structural, molecular, and pollen analyses to investigate 10 coating samples from Ilovik\u2013Par\u017eine 1. The waterproofing layer\u2019s \u201cmolecular fingerprint\u201d thus came to light, revealing that either heated coniferous tree resin<\/a> or heated coniferous tar (also called pitch) was the main ingredient in all their samples. However, according to one sample, some unknown quantity of the coating consisted of a mixture of beeswax and tar that Greek shipbuilders called zopissa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of pitch and beeswax by the Greeks is mentioned in Pliny the Elder\u2019s Natural History <\/em>(XVI, 23),\u201d Charri\u00e9-Duhaut tells Popular Science<\/em>. \u201cThe identification of this mixture on the Ilovik-Par\u017eine 1 shipwreck attests to the continued use of this type of composition in an Adriatic context.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of zopissa on an ancient Roman ship also supports the hypothesis that the vessel was built in Brundisium<\/a>. Now the present-day Italian city of Brindisi, the region was in contact with mainland Italy\u2019s Greek colonies at the time. The pollen analysis<\/a> aligns with this theory as well, indicating that part of the coatings were put on the ship in proximity to that area. The ship may have received others somewhere on the northeastern Adriatic coast\u2014where it met its final doom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More broadly, the pollen came from a diverse group of environments, including forests of holly oak and pine,shrublands with olive and hazel trees, areas with alder and ash trees, and regions with fir and beech trees. Some of these plants are typical of Mediterranean and Adriatic coasts and valleys.<\/p>\n

As for the protective layers themselves, the vessel probably received four to five different rounds of coatings. The same layer was applied on the stern and central part of the ship, but the bow had three separate batches of application, which may suggest consecutive patch-up jobs using materials from across the Mediterranean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study highlights navigation routes based on clues related to the ship\u2019s construction areas<\/p>\n

and, especially, to the different phases of coating application on the ship. It suggests that this vessel traveled between the western Adriatic coast, where it was likely built and where the first layer of coating was applied, and the eastern Adriatic coast,\u201d says Charri\u00e9-Duhaut. \u201cMovements between the southern and northern sections of this eastern coastline are also possible, where repairs or recoating could have been carried out during the ship\u2019s lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

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