The practice dates back more than 5,000 years, and had developed independently in several regions. Lost-wax casting is a process whereby a bronze metal sculpture is cast from a clay, wax or wooden mold. “Stephen was in my Conservation II course and we were experimenting with a version of lost-wax casting that uses 3D printing instead of silicone molding when he had the idea to do one on a grand scale.” “It was a pretty bold idea,” Dostal said. Dostal with no proposal or plan on how we’d do it and without hesitation, Dostal replied, ‘Let’s do it!’”Īnd like any good Ag would do, DeCasien stamped the ram with the Texas A&M mark.ĭostal, an assistant professor of nautical archaeology in the College of Arts and Sciences, specializes in historical-period maritime archaeology, the conservation and preservation of waterlogged artifacts, and digital imaging and 3D modeling of archaeological artifacts. “I thought to myself, if I couldn’t see any rams due to COVID, maybe I could make my own,” he said. Christopher Dostal, director of the Texas A&M University Conservation Research Laboratory ( CRL) and the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation ( CMAC), DeCasien was learning about casting techniques and ways to conserve metal objects. Then in spring 2021, in a class led by Dr. It was a sorely missed opportunity and he didn’t forget it.
Unfortunately for the New Jersey native, the invitation to the historic site came in fall 2019 before he could get to Sicily, the worldwide pandemic began and travel became impossible.
One of DeCasien’s research interests, naval rams are ancient bronze weapons that were fitted to the bows of Greek and Roman warships and used to ram holes into the hulls of enemy ships. The site off the coast of western Sicily is the only known ancient naval battlefield ever discovered - nautical archaeologists have recovered 26 Roman and Carthaginian naval rams and other artifacts from a battle on the Mediterranean Sea that took place in 241 BCE during the First Punic War. When nautical archaeology graduate student Stephen DeCasien was invited by a colleague to be part of the Battle of the Egadi Islands Project, he was ecstatic.
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