The Hull Remains of a Post Medieval Black Sea Merchantman from Kitten, Bulgaria Kroum N. Batchvarov Anthropology Department and Maritime Studies Programme, University of Connecticut, 1084 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340, USA, kroum.batchvarov@uconn.edu In the 1980s, the Bulgarian Centre for Underwater Archaeology, led by Dr Kalin Porozhanov, undertook limited work on a post medieval wreck lost off Cape Urdovize, near the town of Kitten. In 2000, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and the Centre for Underwater Archaeology returned to excavate and record the shipwreck in detail. The largest and arguably most important artefact was the hull itself, as it is the first complete excavation of a Black Sea merchantman, dated to the late 18th or very early 19th century. This paper offers a complete and corrected description of the structure of the vessel. © 2014 The Author Key words: Black Sea, shipwreck, whole-moulding, shipbuilding, Ottoman seafaring, excavation. B etween 2000 and 2003 the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA), based at Texas A&M University, and the Bulgarian Centre for Under- water Archaeology (BCUA) undertook the first com- plete excavation of a post medieval Black Sea merchantman. Among the diagnostic artefacts recov- ered by the expedition were two German accounting tokens and two silver Ottoman parah coins, which dated the loss of the ship to the reign of Sultan Selim III (1789–1807) (Batchvarov, 2009: 251–5). A collection of Ottoman clay pipes and smoking paraphernalia were recovered that date from the later 18th to the early 19th century (Batchvarov, 2014). Copper vessels found on board include a brazier, plates, serving platter, candle- stick, jugs and pans. Close parallels, particularly to the plates, are held at the Bulgarian National History Museum and the items on display have inscribed mid 18th-century dates. The manufacturing and decoration styles are characteristic of Bulgarian products from the Sub-Balkan valley of central Bulgaria. Of particular interest is the discovery of fragments of an Orthodox iconostas, which argues that the vessel was operated, if not necessarily owned, by Christians on its last voyage (Batchvarov, 2009: 223–98). Furthermore, a partial excavation of the bow area of the ship, undertaken by Bulgarian archaeologist Dr Kalin Porozhanov in the 1980s had yielded a pig’s hide, which also strengthens the case for Christians operating the ship (Porozhanov, 2000). The largest and most important artefact, however, was the well-preserved starboard side of the ship itself. Hitherto no post medieval Black Sea ships had been excavated and no knowledge of shipbuilding techniques in the region existed. It was hoped that the Kitten shipwreck excavation would fill this want. Thus the major research questions were focused on the study of Ottoman ship design and building techniques in the Black Sea region. This article describes the construc- tion of this vessel. The reconstruction of the ship and the design techniques employed in its building have been described elsewhere (Batchvarov, 2011, 2012). Description of the site The small resort town of Kitten is located at the base of a promontory that ends with Cape Urdoviza, a name believed to be of Thracian origin (Fig. 1). The cape offers some protection to the southern bay from the northern and north-north-easterly winds, but once the wind veers further to the east, the bay becomes an open lee shore with breaking seas. The mouth of the bay is narrowed by two reefs, which present significant navi- gational hazards. That the anchorage could easily become unsafe is amply attested by the presence of four or five post medieval wrecks, most of them in very close proximity to the ship excavated by the joint expedition. The shipwreck described in this article lies at 42 o 14′ 03″ N and 27 0 46′ 57″ E. Three distinct strata of overburden were observed during the excavations. The uppermost consists of shells and pebbles mixed with sand, and extends down to 0.5–0.7 m depth. This layer is disturbed by the work undertaken on the site in the 1980s. It also appears that, because of the shallow depth and its position within the surf zone, this layer is regularly churned up by storms. For these reasons, artefacts found in the stratum were The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2014) 43.2: 397–412 doi: 10.1111/1095-9270.12057 © 2014 The Author. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2014 The Nautical Archaeology Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.