Among the hundreds of concretions recovered during the excavation of the eleventh-century wreck at Sere Limani (see chapter 5), four were of padlocks of two major types (Fig. 23-1).1 The first, with three examples, is of the type invariably named spring, barbed-spring, barb-bolt, cylindrical, or barrel lock. The second type, with only one example, is in the more traditional box shape that is similar to those in use today (Fig. 23-2). Because the three concretions containing the barbed-spring cylindrical padlocks roughly resembled in shape those of javelins or spears, which were found in considerable numbers on the ship, they were initially lumped with these weapons. Copyright 2004 by Texas A&M University Press. All rights reserved.
