Architectural Energetics for Byzantine Chancel Screen Construction: The Case of the Marzamemi II "Church Wreck"

The present work introduces the first architectural energetics analysis of a Byzantine chancel screen from the Marzamemi II shipwreck. Emerging technologies in digital modeling present new opportunities for research in architecture, archaeology, and classical studies. The burgeoning technological resources of today's world, coupled with new 3D digital modeling programs, have the potential to ease the research of archaeological sites and artifacts. For this thesis I digitally recreated an “ideal” version of a Byzantine chancel screen (a religious architectural artifact) from the fragments recovered at the Marzamemi II shipwreck. This reconstruction represents the state of the artifact when it was loaded onto the ship after leaving the quarry approximately 1500 years ago.

Over the course of the 2018 field season, I took measurements, created sketches, and used digital Artec models of conserved and recently recovered architectural artifacts to begin re-creating their original shape prior to the wreck of the ship. These calculations can help the researchers at the Marzamemi Maritime Heritage Project to better understand the possibility of standardization within the recovered architectural elements. Following the 2018 field season, I used 3D models of the recovered chancel screen fragments to digitally produce the “ideal” chancel screen. During this time, I also explored the architectural energetics of the chancel screen in regards to religious symbolism, Byzantine economics, and labor estimates for the carving of one screen.