The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2017) 46.2: 253–283 doi: 10.1111/1095-9270.12266 The Hull Construction of Yenikapı 14 (YK 14), a Middle Byzantine Shipwreck from Constantinople’s Theodosian Harbour, Istanbul, Turkey Michael R. Jones Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Drawer HG, College Station, TX, 77841-5137, USA Yenikapı 14 (YK 14) is one of 37 shipwrecks discovered by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums during the Marmaray Project excavations in Istanbul’s Yenikapı neighbourhood, the site of Constantinople’s Theodosian Harbour. Dated to the 9th century AD, YK 14 is one of a group of Yenikapı round ships constructed using similar methods: it was a flat-floored, shallow-draught vessel built primarily of oak using a distinctive combination of shell- and skeleton-based construction methods. Regularly spaced pegs called coaks were used to assemble the hull planking edge-to-edge from the keel to the first wale, above which planks were fastened exclusively to frames. © 2017 The Author Key words: Marmaray Project, Mediterranean shipbuilding, shell-based ship construction, coaks, merchantman, Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Y enikapı Wreck 14, or YK 14, was discovered in January 2007 during the Marmaray Project excavations conducted by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums in Istanbul’s Yenikapı neighbourhood (Kızıltan, 2010: 1–2; Pulak et al., 2013: 30). The Yenikapı excavation uncovered a large section of the Theodosian harbour, one of Late Roman and Byzantine Constantinople’s main commercial harbours (Mango, 1993: 120–21; Asal, 2010; Magdalino, 2013: 14). YK 14 is one of up to 37 shipwrecks discovered in the Theodosian harbour dating from the 5th to late 10th century AD; this assemblage includes rowed galleys and a variety of commercial and utility vessels (Kızıltan, 2010: 3; Kocabas ¸, 2015; Pulak et al., 2015). YK 14 was discovered in the central area of the Yenikapı excavation, approximately 20m west of Namık Kemal Street in grid squares K, L, and M 146 (Fig. 1). The shipwreck was excavated in March 2007 by archaeologists from the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, and mapped in situ and dismantled between April and September of 2007 by a team from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University directed by Cemal Pulak. The documentation and reconstruction of YK 14 is part of a larger study by INA, in cooperation with the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, of eight Byzantine shipwrecks from the Yenikapı site dating from the 7th to late 10th centuries AD (Pulak et al., 2015). Excavation and stratigraphic context YK 14 was excavated from a thick deposit of grey marine sand mixed with inclusions of shells and anthropogenic remains, including pottery and tile fragments, animal bones, and the seeds and pits of common domesticated plants. Although some of the Yenikapı shipwrecks appear to have been abandoned as derelicts, the YK 14 shipwreck’s stratigraphic context and excellent preservation suggests that it sank in a storm and was quickly buried (Perinc ¸ek, 2010: 206– 208, 211, fig. 13–16; Kocabas ¸, 2015: 8; Pulak et al., 2015: 46, 48). Scattered pottery fragments found inside the hull closely resemble material in the surrounding stratigraphic layer and thus cannot be conclusively identified as part of the ship’s cargo (Fig. 2); any cargo and ballast were likely salvaged soon after sinking. Disarticulated ship timbers and remains of ship’s equipment possibly associated with the vessel were discovered in the vicinity of the shipwreck: the latter include three rope fragments, two large clumps of pitch mixed with hair, presumably used for the surface treatment of the hull, a boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) sheave fragment, and a beech (Fagus orientalis) toggle of unknown function. Pottery discovered in the stratigraphic layer of the shipwreck, primarily amphora fragments, was initially dated to the late 9th or 10th century AD. However, AMS radiocarbon dates of samples from hull timbers and a © 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2017 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.