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Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig

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Abstract

The use of moss material to make boats watertight (caulking) has been a widespread practice in Europe, with records dating back to the Bronze Age. In this article we report the bryophyte assemblages from fifteen boats, which have been conserved as wrecks in the rivers of Upper Rhône and Saône near Lyons, France. The assemblages vary according to their composition, with Neckera crispa Hedwig being one of the dominant species overall. Following ancient technical descriptions we performed experimental collections from bark and rocks in the Jura Mountains. Comparing these to the archaeological records revealed that most of the mosses were probably of bark origin and were collected in base rich areas. Our data is discussed in the context of archaeological caulking in Western Europe. While in much of Europe N. crispa strongly decreased as a caulking material from the 14th century onwards, it remained much used in our study area. This is probably due to the persistence of suitable forests in the Jura mountains.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Gilles Bailly (Conservatoire Botanique de Franche-Comté) for help and discussions about the study of archaeological moss remains. We thank Véronique Blanchet-Rossi (Archives municipales de St.-Claude, Jura), Pierre Boudier (Muséum des sciences naturelles et de préhistoire de Chartres), René Cappers (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), Stephan Hochuli (Section cantonale d’Archéologie de Zug, Suisse), André Julliard (CNRS), Fabrice Laurent and Alain Lavocat (Groupe de Recherche d’Archéologie Aquatique Lyonnais), Thierry Mahévas (Conservatoire et Jardins Botaniques de Nancy), Henri Plasson (Association Ensemble à Villerest), René Schumacker (Université de Liège, Belgique) and Patrick Unterstock (calfat à Muttersholz, Haut-Rhin) for their comments and help with many aspects. Furthermore, we gratefully acknowledge James H. Dickson, who provided helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript. We were very glad of the precious recollections of Odette Josserand concerning the caulking practices of her father (1902–1973), who was probably the last person to do this in the Saône area. Louis-René Catcel’s vivid descriptions of his practice of moss collecting and moss caulking 50 years ago were also much appreciated. We gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and Frauke Behrendt (Brighton) for English language edition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Méditerranéen d’Écologie et de Paléoécologie IMEP IRD UMR CNRS 6116, Université d’Aix-Marseille III, FST Saint-Jérôme Case 462, 13397, Marseille Cedex 20, France

    Arne Saatkamp

  2. INRAP, Région Rhône-Alpes—Auvergne, Centre Archéologique Régional de Bron, 12, rue Louis Maggiorini, 69500, Bron, France

    Marc Guyon

  3. UMR5125 (PEPS) du CNRS, Université Lyon 1, Campus de la Doua, Darwin A, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Marc Philippe

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  1. Arne Saatkamp
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Correspondence to Arne Saatkamp.

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Communicated by F. Bittmann.

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Saatkamp, A., Guyon, M. & Philippe, M. Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig. Veget Hist Archaeobot 20, 293–304 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-011-0301-7

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