Page 95 - Kennemerland VOC ship, 1664 - Published Reports

NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 6.3
overlying loose gravel containing no organic fragments of other wreck material; work was thus terminated just beyond this point.
e. Sites F and G: discussion
The principal problem posed by the excavations of these two sites is to understand how the organic matte was formed, and thus to discover the ultimate derivation of this material. Much of the archaeological significance of the arte- facts contained within, or lying below, these levels depends on the answers proposed to this question. As mentioned above, these sites appear to be completely free from later con- tamination, and there is no reason to suspect that any of the material is not from the Kenne- merland. Reasons have also been advanced above for believing that these organic deposits must have formed relatively rapidly after the wrecking took place, and the same conclusion must be reached regarding the concretion and other deposits associated with these levels, if only from the clean and unabraded condition of the artefacts contained within them, and the survival of many delicate items, including tex- tiles and even scraps of paper. The main ques- tion concerns the way in which this material sanktothesea-bedinthefirstplace,seeingthat the bulk would normally float unless totally waterlogged (e.g. wood or paper). There are three possible explanations, none of them being completely satisfactory. One is that all this material was floating around the South Mouth for some time after the wrecking, until it became waterlogged, when it sank and was trapped in these areas; it is difficult to square this explana- tion with the evidence for the rapid formation of these deposits. A second possibility is that a part of the ship herself actually settled here for at least a short period, and that this material
this hypothesis leaves unexplained the presence of several shoes, coils of rope, and other well- preserved items which must have come from other parts of the ship. Further detailed analysis of samples of the organic matte should reveal more evidence which may help to settle this question. It is hoped that this analysiswill also produce some information on what physically bound this organic matte together; superficial examination suggests that it was partly the pro- ducts of decomposing wood, and partly a de- rivative of the large quantities of resin which were scattered throughout.
Turning now to the other, non-organic items found on these sites, the interpretation is more straightforward, but still of considerable interest. Being relatively heavy, items of metal, pottery, glass, or similar fabrics are unlikely to have moved very far between the time of sinking and their final settling within these areas, a conclusion which is reinforced by several close associations of related finds.
Within the concretion against the west wall of Site F there was a collection of cheap jewellery and ornaments, bone dice, thimbles, silver coins, tobacco boxes, brass bodkins, and a pocket sun- dial, in quantities which appear too large for private use and too small for Company trading; they may have been intended for a spot of (illegal) private trading. The coins, found in two neat piles within the concretion, had obviously arrived on the sea-bed in some container. Another interesting association was the finding on Site G, of a padlock and its key only 0.35 m apart; in many ways it is surprising that the key should be lying so close to the lock it opened, although it may indicate that the lock was not in use at the time. Finally, it is worth noting the complete Ballarmine flagon which became buried within the organic level on Site G , and then broke into 55 pieces, without being sub-
was ground into the sea-bed by the movement
of the structure, the wood splinters being
detached and buried almost at once; however, it
is difficult to imagine even a part of the ship
remaining for long in this exposed situation.
The third theory, and in many ways the most
satisfactory, is that al this material is derived
from the ship’s bilges, and was therefore in
a waterlogged state before the wrecking
occurred; this would also account for the tar
and peppercorns in these deposits. However, the detailed associations of artefacts have, in
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sequently disturbed. It is thus fairly clear that what is represented here is the debris from a specific part of the ship which broke up at this point, where the bottom shoals steeply; which part or parts is still unclear, but any conclusions regarding the origins of the organic matte may furnish some evidence. This detailed discussion of some of the implications arising from one area illustrates the general conclusion reached previously with respect to the whole site, that