Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:29:29.601Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Metallography, Microanalysis & Corrosion of the Athlit Ram

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2011

M. R. Notis
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
M. Hoban
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
D-N. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Get access

Abstract

The Athlit ram, a bronze warship ram from a 2nd Century BCE Roman-era galley, was found in 1980 off the coast of Israel at Athlit, and is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum, Haifa, Israel. It meant to fit on the prow of a medium-sized oared warship. This ram is the only known surviving example of this ancient naval weapon. Inside the bronze ram some of the ship’s wood is still preserved. We have recently studied a piece of the ram removed during early conservation. Remnant metal, corrosion products, and mineralized and pseudomorphed wood have all been found and examined by light optical metallography, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and microanalysis using energy dispersive x-ray mapping. The main corrosion product on the Athlit Ram is identified as covellite (CuS), and the entrained material is pseudomorphed cedar wood. Analysis indicates the lumen to be replaced by calcium carbonate and the cell walls to be replaced by covellite, consistent with the matrix.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Steffy, J. R., Mariner’s Mirror 63, 229 (1983)Google Scholar
2. Torr, C., Ancient Ships (Argonaut Press, 1964), p.63, n.143 Google Scholar
3. Zemer, A., National Maritime Museum, personal communication (2006)Google Scholar
4. Casson, L., Steffy, J.R., and Linder, E., The Athlit Ram, (Texas A & M Univ. Press, 1991)Google Scholar
5. Oren, A., The Athlit Ram: Classical and Hellenistic Bronze Casting Technology, Thesis, Texas A & M Univ. (2001)Google Scholar
6. Oren, A., J. Arch. Sci. 33, 63 (2006)Google Scholar
7. Caley, E.R., Ohio J.Sci, 51, 6 (1951)Google Scholar
8. North, N.A. and MacLeod, I.D., “Corrosion of Metals”, p. 68, in Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects, Pearson, C., ed. (Butterworths, 1987)Google Scholar
9. MacLeod, I.D., Intl. J. Naut. Arch. Under. Expl., 11, 267 (1982)Google Scholar
10. Scurfield, G., Aust. J. Bot., 27, 377 (1979)Google Scholar
11. Kuczumow, A., et al. , J. Anal. Atom. Chem., 14, 435 (1999)Google Scholar