Boa Vista 1: context and construction details of anearly modern ship discovered in Lisbon, Portugal

Archaeological excavations performed in the construction area of the new corporate headquarters of EDP (Energias de Portugal) uncovered the remains of two ships, Boa Vista 1(BV1) and Boa Vista 2 (BV2). Both were unearthed between September 2012 and February 2013, during a salvage excava-tion carried out by ERA Arqueologia Company, which requested the contribution of CHAM-Centre for the Humanitiesto ensure the required nautical archaeology expertise. The BV1 ship was excavated in two distinct phases, due to the constraints of the engineering works. The vessel was recorded in situ, using rectified photographs and a total station survey. The remains were then dismantled, also in two phases,which required the sectioning of some timbers; they were kept immersed in water tanks, first at EDP’s storage facilities and then at the CAL (Centro de Arqueologia de Lisboa) depot. In 2013, our team took over the study of these remains and conducted a four-month assessment, including a phase of analysis and systematisation of the field data. A general inventory of all the ship’s timbers and other archaeological finds was compiled. A number of selected timbers deemed crucial for the vessels’ interpretation were recorded. This research is now being carried out as an objective of the Lisbon waterfront project and in the scope of the PhD dissertation of one of theauthors. This paper will present the first results of the BV1 research,concerning an approach to the field data, the inventory and the archaeological recording of some selected timbers.