2023-10-02 16:45:46
In 1597, a war galleon built in Naples, Italy, was shipwrecked off the coast of Galicia, Spain. This ship, the San Giacomo di Galizia, also known as Santiago, sank in the Ribadeo estuary, where its analysis has now been carried out centuries later, with the aim of knowing what the life of its crew was like. .
The study was carried out by an international team made up of, among others, Tânia Manuel Casimiro, from the NOVA University of Lisbon in Portugal, Ana Crespo Solana, Marta Moreno García and Arnaud Cazenave de la Roche, from the Institute of History (IH) and Sagrario Martínez Ramírez, from the Institute of Structure of Matter (IEM), the latter two entities dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain.
The underwater site of the remains of the Santiago, or the Ribadeo I wreck, is an exceptional case to study a 16th century warship in Spanish territorial waters. The investigation of this wreck, which is a fragment of a shipwrecked ship, offers a window to the past, from knowing the livestock consumed by sailors to the type of ceramic used to store water and preserve food.
The research team has managed to reconstruct the history of Santiago. Thanks to the study of submerged artifacts, and the review of historical documents and spectroscopic analysis, researchers have managed to get closer than ever before to the activities carried out on board the ship, during its brief period of service in the Spanish Navy since its construction. in a shipyard in Naples around 1590 until its shipwreck in 1597.
The results of the research work have been presented in several separate studies that have been published in a special monographic issue of the academic journal Heritage.
These studies delve into the material culture and life on board ships from the 16th to the 19th centuries and offer a broader view of the interactions of the marine environment.
Judging by the data collected in these investigations, this shipwreck and others from the same period represent a valuable historical-archaeological heritage that has received limited attention from the perspective of underwater research, and whose study provides “new perspectives on the historical contexts and materials from past centuries”, in the words of Crespo. The scientist, specialized in history and underwater archaeology, emphasizes that these studies “offer a wealth of significant data on the material culture of the time, the dynamics on board, maritime practices, commercial networks, nautical behaviors and knowledge, as well as as the subsequent development and transformation of archaeological sites, which become historical time capsules.” She led the European project ForSEAdiscovery, which carried out the underwater excavation between 2012 and 2022. Currently, work continues under the direction of Miguel San Claudio Santa Cruz, archaeologist at the Xunta de Galicia.
Taking measurements at the Ribadeo I wreck site. (Photo: Christine Heamagi (MALtd) / ForSEAdiscovery Project / CSIC / Xunta de Galicia)
Gastronomy on a 16th century war galleon
The study of the 78 bones recovered on board the Santiago reveals, according to the archaeozoological analysis of the IH Archaeobiology Laboratory, that the remains correspond to different types of meat, such as beef, lamb, pork, goose and even hake. This points to a critical role for livestock as a primary source of protein for the crew. According to Moreno, the greater number of cow waste compared to other species indicates that beef was an important source of protein for the crew. Additionally, the identification of animal parts with lower meat value, such as skulls and distal limb extremities, raises the possibility that live cattle were transported for further processing on board.
Patterns in butchering, such as the frequency and location of chopping marks into small, manageable portions, tell scientists that boiling and stewing were the most common cooking methods. Furthermore, the aging data denote the probable consumption of tender beef and lamb, indicating differences between the diet of high-ranking officers and the rest of the crew. Finally, the recovery of a goose tarsometatarsus, a bone with no meat yield, would imply the presence of live poultry on board, while a hake vertebra would be related to the provision of dried fish.
Ceramics, key in the storage of water and food
The archaeometric and chemical analyzes of the ceramics, artifacts and skeletal remains of fauna from the site have allowed Ramírez, a materials specialist at the IEM, to reconstruct the galleon’s navigation itinerary. Combined with the archaeological record and historical documentation, it can now be stated that the ship departed from Naples and passed through Cádiz and Lisbon before sinking in Galicia.
Ceramics have emerged as one of the most common finds, followed by wood and stone. Mainly of Portuguese manufacture, these vessels did not primarily fulfill culinary functions, but rather for storing water and preserving food during extensive sea voyages. Furthermore, “the study of ceramics and some metal pieces points to different production techniques and an important chain of knowledge and labor in their production,” Crespo details.
The samples were analyzed from a chemical and mineralogical point of view using different instrumental techniques at the IEM, which has allowed us to determine two types of ceramics fired at different temperatures (<800ºC y >900ºC). The first are related to jars for storing oil, while the second correspond to pieces of tableware, which confirms the presence of ceramics linked to daily life aboard a military ship.
Mediterranean shipbuilding
The monograph also publishes the results of an archaeological intervention by the CSIC on the Mortella II wreck in 2021, which was carried out as a complement to the excavation of the Mortella III wreck carried out between 2010 and 2019, and to which it is historically linked. Both ships were Genoese merchant ships that sailed together and sank in 1527 in the context of the seventh Italian conflict of the war between France and Spain. The magazine collects the main results of the lines of research on naval construction and artifacts (anchors and artillery) of the Renaissance.
All of these studies published in the academic journal Heritage are as follows:
“The ‘San Giacomo di Galizia’ Warship Galleon (1597)—Building Narratives through an Archaeological and Historical Reading of the Ribadeo I Shipwreck.
“Ship Archaeology and Material Culture: Artifacts, Representations, Structures, Narratives, and Materialities (16th–19th Centuries)”.
“Meat Supplies at the Ribadeo I Shipwreck (San Giacomo di Galizia galleon): Preliminary Results from Three Small Faunal Samples”.
“The Mortella II Wreck, a Genoese Merchantman Sunk in 1527 in Corsica (Saint-Florent, France): A Preliminary Assessment of the Site, Hull Structures and Artefacts”.
(Source: Isabel Fernández Morales / Celia Ramos / CCHS / CSIC)
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