Boshell Foundation Lecture: The Ship's Captain Who Lost His Marbles

Between 2005 and 2011, underwater archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University excavated the remains of a seagoing ship that was wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey at Kızılburun. This ancient ship was transporting about 60 tons of newly-quarried marble architectural elements, some of which belonged to a single, monumental Doric column. During the excavation, eight massive marble column drums, each weighing about seven tons, were raised to the surface for recording, study, and analysis.

Chemical analysis tells us where the marble was quarried, ceramic artifacts from the ship suggest that it sank in the first century B.C., and we know where the voyage ended, but for which ancient building was this specific monumental marble column destined?

Hear from Deborah Carlson, INA President and director of the Kızılburun shipwreck excavation, as she explores this very question, drawing from evidence provided by ancient quarrying practices, long-distance transport by sea, and monumental marble construction in the ancient Mediterranean.

This program is generously sponsored by the Boshell Family Foundation.