Notes on the Identification of the Roman Masts Found in the Port of Olbia, Sardinia Virgilio Gavini Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle province di Sassari e Nuoro, Italy Edoardo Riccardi Via A. Faggi 13, Bergeggi, Savona, Italy Francesco Tiboni Aix-Marseille Université, CCJ, UMR7299, 13094, Aix-en-Provence, France This paper presents both archaeological evidence and technical features that allows the identification of two of the wooden objects discovered in 2001 at the site of a 1st-century-AD shipyard in Olbia, Sardinia, as masts. The structure and dimensions of the objects are presented and compared with similar artefacts which have been interpreted as rudder-stocks in order to establish their specific and distinct features. Possible retaining and lowering systems for the masts, and evidence of wooden mast-ladders are discussed through examination of archaeological parallels and Roman iconography. © 2013 The Authors Key words: masts, rudder-stocks, heel, mast-ladder, scarf, mortise-and-tenon. A t the 2012 ISBSA conference in Amsterdam, the presentation of some of the wooden arte- facts discovered at the port of Olbia, Sardinia, Italy in 2001 (Fig. 1) (Riccardi et al., forthcoming) stimulated an interesting discussion over their correct identification. While Edoardo Riccardi and Virgilio Gavini, who found the objects, suggested that they are incomplete parts of two masts (A1 and A2) and four rudder-stocks (T1, T2, T3 and T4), some scholars thought that all six should be identified as rudder- stocks 1 . Here the dimensions and features of the two sets of artefacts are compared, followed by a discus- sion of how specific features would enable A1 and A2 to be used as masts through comparisons with both other archaeological material and iconographic evidence. Figure 1. Location map and the area where the timbers were found in the port of Olbia. (Drawing F. Tiboni, V. Gavini) The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2014) 43.1: 27–34 doi: 10.1111/1095-9270.12040 © 2013 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2013 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.