Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Vegetation History and Archaeobotany Année : 2011

Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig

Résumé

The use of moss material to make boats watertight (caulking) has been a widespread practice in Europe, with records dating back to the Bronze Age. In this article we report the bryophyte assemblages from fifteen boats, which have been conserved as wrecks in the rivers of Upper Rhône and Saône near Lyons, France. The assemblages vary according to their composition, with Neckera crispa Hedwig being one of the dominant species overall. Following ancient technical descriptions we performed experimental collections from bark and rocks in the Jura Mountains. Comparing these to the archaeological records revealed that most of the mosses were probably of bark origin and were collected in base rich areas. Our data is discussed in the context of archaeological caulking in Western Europe. While in much of Europe N. crispa strongly decreased as a caulking material from the 14th century onwards, it remained much used in our study area. This is probably due to the persistence of suitable forests in the Jura mountains.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Saatkamp et al 2011 MOss caulking of boats from RHone and Saone 3rd-20th century.pdf (488.51 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...

Dates et versions

hal-01533479 , version 1 (24-06-2018)

Identifiants

Citer

Arne Saatkamp, Marc Guyon, Marc Philippe. Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 2011, 17, pp.293-304. ⟨10.1007/s00334-011-0301-7⟩. ⟨hal-01533479⟩
304 Consultations
191 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More