The De Meern 1 and 2nd century shipbuilding

My Facebook friend David McLane sent me a picture of the remains of a Roman shipwreck dubbed "De Meern 1" dated to about 190 CE that was found in a tributary of the Rhine and is now on display at the Museum Hoge Woerd in De Meern, Utrecht, Netherlands.

The original remains of the De Meern 1 Roman barge wrecked in a tributary of the Rhine near De Meern, Utrecht, Netherlands. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Otter.

Detail image of the original remains of the De Meern 1 Roman barge wrecked in a tributary of the Rhine near De Meern, Utrecht, Netherlands. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Otter.

Reproduction of the De Meern 1 Roman river barge wrecked in a tributary of the Rhine near De Meern, Utrecht, Netherlands courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Jan dinkstra.

Closeup of the cabin of the Reproduction of the De Meern 1 Roman river barge wrecked in a tributary of the Rhine near De Meern, Utrecht, Netherlands courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons contributor Ellywa

I was particularly intrigued when I read that the captain's personal belongings and a set of tools were found within the cabin so I searched for images of those artifacts.

Fortunately, I found a category on Wikimedia Commons with pictures of the objects (I think some are replicas) as well as images of a model reconstruction of the Roman river barge.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/.../Category:Shipwreck_De...

Looking at the tools, I was amazed at how familiar so many of them are - a chisel, shears, block plane, boat hook, adze hammer, crowbar, and a bow saw.

String-tensioned bow saw from around 148 CE, found in the Netherlands in the wreck of a Roman ship now known as "De Meern 1". Used woods in the saw are fir and walnut. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

De Meern 1 was discovered in Leidsche Rijn in 1997, but was finally excavated in 2003. Upon exhumation, the ship was measured 25 by 2.7 meters, with dendrochronology narrowing the lumber being cut around 148 CE, and being active from 150-200 CE. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ships_of_De_Meern) states military objects found within the ship indicate its owner may have been a veteran of the Roman army, who conducted repair work along the limes. Looking through the available images, though, the only military artifact I saw was a lance blade.

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