See the Rare Medieval Boat Discovered Over 18 Feet Below Sea Level in Barcelona
It could take years for archaeologists to properly excavate and preserve the delicate wooden vessel, which likely became shipwrecked
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Archaeologists in Barcelona have unearthed the wooden hull of a medieval ship, thought to date back to the 15th or 16th century.
Buried for centuries in the waterlogged soil beneath the Mercat del Peix, Barcelona’s old fish market, the ship’s remains measure more than 30 feet in length and almost 10 feet wide, with some 30 wooden ribs held together by a mix of iron and wooden nails.
At a press conference announcing the find earlier this month, Santi Palacios, the excavation’s lead archaeologist from cultural heritage group Arqueolegs.cat, tells media that it was an “exceptional” find, per Catalan News.
“It’s not every day we come across a ship of these dimensions,” Palacios adds, noting that the rare discovery would offer critical insight into the “context of Barcelona’s old port.”
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The discovery came over 18 feet below sea level. Researchers have deemed the ship “derelict,” a term in marine archaeology for abandoned vessels later covered by layers of sediment as coastlines changed.
Because of the damp condition of the wood and its waterlogged environment, the ship’s remains are in a “very fragile state of conservation,” per a statement from the city. To prevent the sensitive wood from crumbling, proper excavation and restoration work could take years.
For now, the researchers have left the ship in situ, partially covering it with original soil and squeezing wet sponges onto it to preserve moisture. “The wood has to be kept constantly damp so as to keep it in a good state,” Delia Eguiluz, a restorer working on the project, explains to the Guardian’s Sam Jones. “When we move it, we’ll have to dismantle it piece-by-piece so we can continue our research.”
Eguiluz’s conservation team will begin the recovery process by documenting the remains with 3D-imagery. Individual pieces will then be moved in containers full of water before conservationists inject hydro-soluble wax into the wood to strengthen internal structures for reassembly and long-term preservation.
The find came as part of excavations for Ciutadella del Coneixement, a scientific research complex in and around Barcelona’s Parc de la Ciutadella. Archaeologists unearthed the vessel, which they have provisionally named “Ciutadella I,” underneath the two-acre site of a future parking lot by the Mercat del Peix.
Since March 2023, the site has yielded several major archaeological finds, including an air raid shelter built during the Spanish Civil War to protect fishmongers from bombings and remnants of Barcelona’s citadel from the 18th century.
Archaeologists estimate that they have yet to excavate up to 15 percent of the site, raising the possibility of discovering other parts of the ship or further evidence of the wreck that killed the ship’s crew, per Catalan News.For now, the vessel promises unique insight into naval construction techniques in medieval Barcelona, as well as the transformation of the city’s coastline. Prior to the construction of the city’s first artificial piers in the 1430s, a large portion of modern Barcelona was underwater. In the centuries since then, storms and the changing course of the Besòs River enabled beaches to stretch out and cover erstwhile marine environments.
“We’d thought some archaeological boat remains might turn up on this site, which is near the port and the artificial stone quay that protected the port, and which was a working zone in the 15th and 16th centuries,” Palacios tells the Guardian. “Two years later, we’ve been lucky enough to find a boat.”
In 2008, archaeologists discovered a similar vessel near the Estació de França, a major train station in Barcelona. Dating back to the 15th century, the “Barceloneta I,” as the ship is known, came from northern Spain’s Cantabrian coast, highlighting the city’s importance as a trading hub for centuries./https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/80/04/8004b8fd-1e53-4143-8add-522ff7db9217/img_5915.jpg)
“Ciutadella I,” by contrast, is suspected to hail from the country’s Mediterranean coast. Radiocarbon dating will determine a more exact date for the vessel's construction, and analysis of the wood’s resin content could help pinpoint where it was built. Side by side, “Barceloneta I” and “Ciutadella I” will offer archaeologists an instructive comparison in how ship building differed between regions.
“This is a very important discovery,” Palacios tells the Guardian. “It’s not just about finding one boat because we now have two examples of perfectly documented naval construction in the city of Barcelona.”
