Many of Europe's most important civilizations originated on the shores of the Mediterranean. Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians sailed through this practically closed sea to move quickly along its coasts and between its islands. But before them, during the Neolithic, it was agricultural communities that began to spread across Europe and North Africa about 9,000 years ago.
The coasts of today's Portugal were the furthest horizon that those first farmers could reach, around 5,400 BC. “It is clear that the sea was often used for travel, as ships allowed rapid population movements, contacts and exchange of goods. Furthermore, the first Neolithic settlements were on islands or coasts,” the researchers write in an article published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The work led by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) has analyzed the only five Neolithic canoes discovered to date in the Mediterranean, found in the settlement of La Marmotta (Italy) and which are between 7,000 and 7,500 years old.
“La Marmotta is an exceptional site because it is located under the waters of Lake Bracciano, in anaerobic conditions that have allowed numerous instruments, objects and structural elements of the houses to be preserved,” explains Juan Gibaja, from the Institució Milà y Fontanals.
The site was excavated between 1992 and 2006 and is submerged about 11 meters deep and 300 meters away from the current shore. “We are talking about the vestiges of the first groups of farmers and shepherds who occupied the center of the Italian peninsula approximately between the years 5620 and 5300 BC,” says Gibaja.
The canoes are “exceptional” for their size (the largest measures about 11 meters), for their conservation and for being the oldest from the Neolithic in all of Europe. Although there are previous ones, from 9,000 years ago, belonging to the last hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic (who occupied Cyprus, Corsica, Sicily and Greek islands such as Ikaria, Lemnos and Melos), "those from La Marmotta surprise due to the technical complexity of both their helmet as well as certain associated elements. “We are looking at the work of true naval engineers,” says Mario Mineo, from the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome.
This nautical technology would have been an essential part of the success of their expansion, taking into account that in a few millennia they occupied the entire Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, the researchers point out.
The largest canoe is carved from an oak trunk and is 10.43 meters long, 1.15 meters wide at the stern and 0.85 meters wide at the bow. The base has four transverse reinforcements, with a trapezoidal shape, made from the same trunk. These reinforcements would have increased the durability of the hull, protecting it and improving its maneuverability.
In addition to its large size, this canoe, which is currently exhibited in the Museo delle Civiltà, has three “T”-shaped objects associated with its starboard side, with an ogival top, and two, three and four holes respectively. . They were found inserted into the wall of the canoe at similar distances and heights.
“The characteristics and position of these objects suggest that they could have been used to hold ropes tied to a possible sail or to join elements such as a stabilizer or even another boat, to create a double hull in the shape of a catamaran. These strategies would have provided greater security and stability, as well as a greater capacity to transport people, animals and goods,” they point out.
Another of the canoes is made of alder wood. The archaeologists found it secured to the ground with two sticks. It is 5.4 meters long, 0.4 meters wide at the stern and 0.36 meters wide at the bow. It is believed that it may have been a fishing boat or used to collect plant resources and transport people and small animals on Lake Bracciano, or even at sea.
Next to this boat, a piece of wood with a single hole, about 2.8 centimeters in diameter, was found. Shaped like a mushroom, it is 13.4 centimeters long and between 9 and 8 centimeters wide. “Its similarity to modern bollards indicates that its function could have been precisely to secure the canoe when the water level rose,” explains Niccolò Mazzucco, from the Università di Pisa.
The third canoe, also made from an alder log, is 8.35 meters long, 58 centimeters wide at the stern and 50 centimeters wide at the bow. It has three transverse reinforcements at the base, at a similar distance and with a trapezoidal shape as in the case of the largest canoe.
The fourth boat, very deteriorated, is made from a poplar trunk. As a large part of the helmet is missing, archaeologists consider that it could have had considerable dimensions. During the excavation, a large wooden plank was found that could have been part of this canoe.
The last specimen was made from a beech trunk (Fagus sylvatica). In its current state it has a length of 9.5 meters and a maximum width of 60 centimeters in the stern area, although its dimensions were probably larger, because it is fragmented. You can see two transverse reinforcements made at the base of the canoe.
“We believe that there could still be a greater number of vessels preserved under the waters of Lake Bracciano and it is possible that they could be found in the future,” the experts point out, since a large part of the La Marmotta site remains unexcavated.
