Review of the research programme on the Mortella III wreck (2010-2020, Corsica, France): A contribution to the knowledge of the Mediterranean naval architecture and material culture of the Renaissance.

Abstract

The Mortella wrecks are the remains of twonavi, Genoese seagoing merchant ships, sunk in 1527 in the Bay of Saint-Florent (Upper-Corsica, France) during the Seventh Italian War. A programme of archaeological excavations and historical research has been held on one of them,  Mortella III, between 2010 and 2020. It has involved a multidisciplinary team around a European research project calledModernShip(Horizon 2020), whose objective is to shed light on Mediterranean shipbuilding during the Renaissance, a field still little known to this day.At the end of these 10 years, the aim of the present article is to conclude this research programme with the presentation of a scientific review that complements a recently published monograph on theMortella IIIwreck. This study presents the latest results on the ship's architecture obtained during the excavation of the wreck in 2019, including a study of the wood of the framework.Finally, this article broadens our understanding of thenavepresenting the results of a collaborative line of research on material culture with three studies in close connection with the ship architecture: artillery, anchors and ceramics.