This article presents the results of a preliminary archaeological operation carried out in 2021 on the Mortella II wreck. It was designed as a continuation and complement to the excavation of the Mortella III wreck that was performed between 2010 and 2019 and to which it is historically linked: both ships were Genoese merchantmen sailing together, which sank in 1527 in the context of the 7th Italian War between France and Spain. The paper takes up the main outcomes of the lines of research on shipbuilding and artefacts (anchors and artillery). It discusses their characteristics, comparing them to other wrecks of similar Mediterranean origin. In this way, this work seeks to contribute to the knowledge of Mediterranean shipbuilding and the material culture of the Renaissance, which is currently little known.

The Mortella wrecks are the remains of two navi, Genoese seagoing merchant ships, sunk in 1527 in the Bay of Saint-Florent (Upper-Corsica, France) during the Seventh Italian War. A programme of archaeological excavations and historical research has been held on one of them, Mortella III, between 2010 and 2020. It has involved a multidisciplinary team around a European research project called ModernShip (Horizon 2020), whose objective is to shed light on Mediterranean shipbuilding during the Renaissance, a field still little known to this day. At the end of these 10 years, the aim of the present article is to conclude this research programme with the presentation of a scientific review that complements a recently published monograph on the Mortella III wreck. This study presents the latest results on the ship's architecture obtained during the excavation of the wreck in 2019, including a study of the wood of the framework. Finally, this article broadens our understanding of the nave presenting the results of a collaborative line of research on material culture with three studies in close connection with the ship architecture: artillery, anchors and ceramics.

In 2006 the author, under the auspices of Corsica’s Societé d’Etudes en Archéologie Subaquatique, undertook a sidescan-sonar search of Saint-Florent Bay in the north of the island, where various na...

The Mortella wrecks are the remains of two navi, Genoese seagoing merchant ships, sunk in 1527 in the Bay of Saint-Florent (Upper-Corsica, France) during the Seventh Italian War. A programme of archaeological excavations and historical research has been held on one of them, Mortella III, between 2010 and 2020. It has involved a multidisciplinary team around a European research project called ModernShip (Horizon 2020), whose objective is to shed light on Mediterranean shipbuilding during the Renaissance, a field still little known to this day. At the end of these 10 years, the aim of the present article is to conclude this research programme with the presentation of a scientific review that complements a recently published monograph on the Mortella III wreck. This study presents the latest results on the ship's architecture obtained during the excavation of the wreck in 2019, including a study of the wood of the framework. Finally, this article broadens our understanding of the nave presenting the results of a collaborative line of research on material culture with three studies in close connection with the ship architecture: artillery, anchors and ceramics.