Ancient Mariner Rises from the Deep

 




By Richard Owen in Rome 
(Rome) A Roman sailor who drowned while struggling to free his foot from a rope as his ship 
was sinking has been "brought back to life".  Archaeologists, employing modern 

forensic science techniques, took a skull found amid the wreckage of a 1st 
century BC ship to recreate features that, according to La Repubblica, "look 
strangely familiar, as if he had just stepped ashore". 

The sailor was found on one of 16 ships uncovered at San Rossore, the site of an 
ancient harbour on the outskirts of modern Pisa. 

Francesco Mallegni, Professor of Palaeontology at Pisa University, said that 
scientists had spent months recreating the sailor's face to build up layers 
of modelling clay over the bone. The man, whose whole skeleton has been 
recovered, had been about 40 years of age and 5ft 6in tall. He was probably 
from the Naples area, the origin of the ship's cargo of amphorae, or jars. 

"Our Roman sailor was vigorous and strong, with the powerful chest of a man used to hard work, 
such as carrying heavy loads and dealing with sails and rigging," Professor Mallegni said. 
Archaeologists at the site said the sailor had clearly used his mouth for his work, perhaps by 
holding ropes in his teeth, since his upper incisors were worn to the roots. 

It was not clear, however, whether the sailor was a free man or a slave. Many Roman ships 
plying their trade up and down the Italian coast were crewed by slaves from all parts of the 
Empire, including Libya, Sardinia, Carthage and Thrace, but scholars said the fact that the 
man had reached the "ripe" age of 40 and was tall for the time suggested he was an employed 
deckhand. 



  Stefano Bruni, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations, said it appeared 
  that the ship had sunk in the Roman port of Pisa during a violent storm that 
  had overwhelmed the harbour "in a Pompeii-type catastrophe". While trying to 
  flee, the sailor had caught his foot in a rope. His foot was torn off by the 
  force of the struggle and was found a few yards away. 

  Archaeologists found a small dog "rather like a basset hound" lying on the 
  sailor's left-hand side. Both the man and the dog had been crushed under the 
  ship's cargo, which toppled over in the storm as the ship foundered. It is 
  believed that Romans kept dogs on their cargo ships to keep down rats 
                               attracted by cargoes of grain, oil and wine in addition to those of marble, 
                               granite and metals. 

The port of Pisa took the form of a lagoon harbour slightly inland from the Mediterranean, at 
the confluence of the Arno and Auser rivers, reached from the sea by a canal. The area has 
since silted up and the site of the former harbour lies beneath San Rossore railway station, 
several miles from the present coastline. Ships found there date from the 3rd century BC to 
the 5th century AD. 

Analysis of sand found in the amphorae showed it had come from Naples, Professor Bruni said, 
and it was a "reasonable supposition" that some of the crew were from southern Italy and spoke 
a rough dialect of Greek.  Professor Mallegni said his team were reconstructing the body of 
the sailor as well as his head and intended to put a plaster cast of the figure on display in 
Roman-era clothing at an exhibition in Florence later this month. They also hoped to provide 
a plaster cast of the dog. 

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