Phoenician joint: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox industrial process

| name = Phoenician joints<br/>{{Lang|la|coagmenta punicana}}

| type =

| sector = [[Woodworking]], [[shipbuilding]]

}}

 

 

 

By the first millennium BC, Phoenician joints became a common edge-to-edge fastening method. [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] shipbuilders adopted the technique of Phoenician joinery. Roman writers credited the joinery technique to Phoenicians by calling it {{Lang|la|coagmenta punicana}} or {{Lang|la|Punicanis coamentis}}. The ancient Greek historian [[Polybius]] reported that the Romans copied the locked mortise and tenon technique from a Punic warship that ran aground in 264 BC. They exploited this technique to their advantage early in the [[First Punic War]] in 260 BC which allowed them to build a fleet of 100 [[quinquereme]]s within a period of two months.

 

== History ==

 

In the third and early second millennium BC, the [[Ancient Egypt]]ians employed a similar technique, however, the mortise and tenon joints were not locked in place using pegs.{{Sfn|McGrail|2001|p=25}}{{Sfn|Mark|2009|pp=133–140}}{{Sfn|McGrail|2001|pp=36–38, 133, 147, 162}} To ensure ship hull stability, the Egyptians used their unlocked fastening technique together with other methods of wood fastening. An example of this technique is the [[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] [[Khufu ship|Khufu funerary ship]] ({{Circa| 2600 BC}}), an intact {{Convert|43.6|m|ft|sp=us}} long [[Cedrus libani|Lebanon cedar]] [[Lashed-lug boat|lashed-lug vessel]], that was unearthed in the [[Giza pyramid complex]]. The barque's cedar planks were joined together using unlocked mortise and tenon, and two types of lashings between bordering [[strake]]s and, from [[Sheer (ship)|sheer]] to sheer.{{Sfn|McGrail|2001|p=36}}{{Sfn|Lipke|Moustafa|1984|pp=74–75}}{{Sfn|Grey|2016|pp=23–24}}{{Sfn|Mark|2009|pp=133–140}} The mixed use of unlocked mortise and tenon with wood lashing is also attested in later ancient Egyptian ships from [[Lisht]] ({{Circa| 1950 BC}}) and [[Dahshur|Dashur]] ({{Circa| 1859 BC}}).{{Sfn|Mark|2009|pp=134–135}} The use of pegged mortise and tenon shipbuilding in Egypt is not supported by material evidence before around 500 BC.{{Sfn|Lucas|Harris|2012|pp=452–453}}

The Phoenicians pioneered the use of locked mortise and tenon joints in nautical joinery to secure the underwater planking of seagoing ships.{{Sfn|McGrail|2001|p=134}}{{Sfn|Pomey|2010|p=134}}{{Sfn|Kahanov|Pomey|2004|p=24}} The use of pegged mortises and tenons in shipbuilding spread westward from the Levantine littoral.{{Sfn|López-Ruiz|Doak|2019|p=424}} According to McGrail, this joinery method could have given rise to the Phoenicians' reputation for seafaring excellence.{{Sfn|McGrail|2001|p=134}} The hull of the [[Uluburun shipwreck|Uluburun ship]], an early Phoenician/Canaanite vessel dated {{Circa| 1320±50 BC}},{{Sfn|Mark|2005|p=35}}{{Sfn|Bass|1989|p=27}}{{Sfn|Bass|2012|p=800}}{{Sfn|Wachsmann|2009|pp=239–241}} is the earliest evidence of pegged Phoenician joints used in Mediterranean shipbuilding.{{Sfn|Grey|2016|pp=23–24}}{{Sfn|Pulak|1998|p=210}} The ship's hull was built with Lebanese cedar, with oak tenons.{{sfn|Pulak|1998|p=213}}{{efn|1=Cedar is well documented in Bronze Age sources as the material of choice for shipbuilding.{{sfn|Meiggs|1982|pp=118, 134, 136, 408}} This preference is due to its light weight, its resistance to saltwater damage from prolonged periods of submersion, and because it did not shrink excessively.{{sfn|Rival|1991|pp=35–36}}}} Additional early evidence of Phoenician joint usage comes from another Canaanite shipwreck in [[Cape Gelidonya]] in [[Turkey]] dated {{Circa| 1200±50 BC}}.{{Sfn|Bass|Throckmorton|Taylor|Hennessy|1967|pp=50–51}}{{Sfn|Bass|2012|p=300}}{{Sfn|Wachsmann|2009|p=208}} The Uluburun and Gelidonya ships allowed scholars to date back the Phoenicians' maritime activity to an earlier period when it was thought that Canaanite seafaring did not start before the first millennium BC, and that maritime trade in the Eastern Mediterranean was solely conducted by Mycenaeans.{{Sfn|Bass|2012|p=801}}{{Sfn|López-Ruiz|Doak|2019|p=424}}

 

 

In 264 BC, the Romans seized a Phoenician [[Hellenistic-era warships|penteres]] that ran aground. [[Polybius]] reports that the ship served as a model for the Romans' fleet ships; they realized the advantage of using Phoenician joints in shipbuilding, as the lumber used in edge-joined ship [[strake]]s does not have to be [[Wood drying|dried]].{{Sfn|Sleeswyk|1980|p=244}} Early in the [[First Punic War]] in 260 BC, the Phoenician joint technique allowed the Romans to build a fleet of 100 quinqueremes within a period of two months.{{Sfn|Sleeswyk|1980|p=244}}

 

== Description ==

 

== Etymology ==

 

{{Lang|la|Punicanis}} means Punic and derives from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|[[wikt:poenus|poenus]]}} and {{lang|la|[[wikt:punicus|punicus]]}}, which were used mostly to refer to the [[Punics|Carthaginians]] and other western Phoenicians. These terms derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] word {{lang|grc|Φοῖνιξ}} ({{transliteration|grc|"Phoinix"|italic=no}}), plural form {{lang|grc|Φοίνικες}} ({{transliteration|grc|"Phoinikes"|italic=no}}), an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] used indiscriminately to refer to both western and eastern Phoenicians.{{Sfn|Prag|2006}}

* {{Cite journal |last=Bass |first=George F. |date=2006 |title=New Techniques of Archaeology and Greek Shipwrecks of the Sixth and Fifth Centuries BC |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4598971 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=150 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |jstor=4598971 |issn=0003-049X}}

*{{Cite book |last=Bass |first=George F. |date=2012 |title=Cape Gelidonya shipwreck |url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199873609-e-59 |access-date=2021-04-27 |website=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric H. |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.001.0001 |isbn=9780199873609}}

*{{Cite book |last=Bound |first=Mensun |url=https://www.bcin.ca/bcin/detail.app?id=126422&wbdisable=true |title=Early observations on the construction of the pre-Classical wreck at Campese Bay, island of Giglio: clues to the vessel's nationality |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-86054-352-7 |language=en}}

*{{Cite book |last1=Catsambis |first1=Alexis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOESDAAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology |last2=Ford |first2=Ben |last3=Hamilton |first3=Donny L. |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199336005 |location=New York, NY |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Grey |first=Paula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cAkmDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Khufu+ship%22+%22lebanon+cedar%22&pg=PT30 |title=A History of Travel in 50 Vehicles (History in 50) |date=2016-09-06 |publisher=Tilbury House Publishers and Cadent Publishing |isbn=978-0-88448-398-4 |language=en}}

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*{{Cite book |last1=Lucas |first1=A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWHvAgAAQBAJ&q=Ancient+Egyptian+Materials+and+Industries:+Lucas |title=Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries |last2=Harris |first2=J. |date=2012-04-30 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-14494-8 |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=Mark |first=Samuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mDQwngvaIvMC&q=Homeric+Seafaring |title=Homeric Seafaring |date=2005 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-60344-594-8 |language=en}}

*{{Cite book |last=McGrail |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLkRDAAAQBAJ |title=Boats of the World: From the Stone Age to Medieval Times |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198144687 |location=New York, NY |language=en}}

*{{Cite book |last=Meiggs |first=Russell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pY22AAAAIAAJ |title=Trees and Timber in the Ancient Mediterranean World |date=1982 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-814840-1 |location=Oxford |language=en}}

*{{Cite conference |last=Pomey |first=Patrice |date=2010 |title=Introduction 3 |trans-title=Introduction 3 - Technological transfers in Mediterranean naval architecture from Antiquity to modern times: technical identity and cultural identity. Proceedings of the Istanbul Round Table 19–22 May 2007 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2010_act_20_1_1140 |conference=Transferts technologiques en architecture navale méditerranéenne de l'Antiquité aux temps modernes: identité technique et identité culturelle. Actes de la Table Ronde d'Istanbul 19–22 mai 2007 |language=fr |journal=Varia Anatolica |publisher=Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=131–136}}

*{{cite journal |last1=Prag |first1=Jonathan R. W. |date=2006 |title=Poenus Plane Est – but Who Were the "Punickes"? |journal=Papers of the British School at Rome |volume=74 |pages=1–37 |doi=10.1017/S0068246200003214 |s2cid=162396151}}

* {{Cite book |last=Rival |first=Michel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4DfAAAAMAAJ |title=La charpenterie navale romaine: matériaux, méthodes, moyens |date=1991 |publisher=Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique: Presses du CNRS |isbn=978-2-222-04391-1 |location=Paris |language=French |oclc=474333861}}

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*{{Cite web |last=Teague |first=Matthew |date=2007-05-01 |title=The Pegged Joint, Exposed |url=https://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/05/01/the-pegged-joint-exposed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925162856/https://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/05/01/the-pegged-joint-exposed |archive-date=2020-09-25 |access-date=2021-04-28 |website=FineWoodworking |publisher=Taunton Press |language=en-US}}

*{{Cite book |last=Wachsmann |first=Shelley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=apna4pv7Ks8C |title=Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant |date=2009 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-60344-080-6 |language=en}}

* {{Cite book |last=White |first=K. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1ssAAAAYAAJ&q=Greek+and+Roman+Technology.+Aspects+of+Greek+and+Roman+Life. |title=Greek and Roman Technology |date=1984 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-1439-8 |language=en}}

 

[[Category:Joinery]]