The Second Life of a Phoenix

Portrait of a Punic Ship Resurrected in a Sicilian Town

Honor Frost (edited by Claire Calcagno & Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri) | Forthcoming

The Second Life of a Phoenix

Portrait of a Punic Ship Resurrected in a Sicilian Town

Honor Frost (edited by Claire Calcagno & Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri) | Forthcoming


Paperback ISBN: 9789464264517 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464264524 | Imprint: Sidestone Press | Format: 150x220mm | ca. 270 pp. | Honor Frost Foundation | Language: English | 17 illus. (bw) | 55 illus. (fc) | Keywords: maritime archaeology; memoir; Mediterranean archaeology; Punic ship; Sicily; underwater archaeology | download cover | DOI: 10.59641/m7p3j4k5l6 | CC-license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Publication date: 01-09-2026

We will plant a tree for each order containing a paperback or hardback book via OneTreePlanted.org.

Just over half a century ago, maritime archaeologist Honor Frost led an interdisciplinary team that uncovered an exceptional Punic shipwreck off the western coast of Sicily.

The excavation, study, and conservation of the shipwreck—dated to the 3rd century BCE and now on display at the Museo Archeologico Regionale Lilibeo–Marsala—marked a groundbreaking achievement in the history of underwater archaeology. To this day, the Punic Ship of Marsala remains the only surviving ancient galley of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Second Life of a Phoenix takes shape from an unfinished manuscript by Honor Frost, recently discovered in her personal archives. In her Sicilian memoir, she recounts firsthand her experiences, challenges, and discoveries as director of the Punic Ship Project, while delving into the intellectual debates shaping the emerging discipline of maritime archaeology at that time. She illustrates the Mediterranean environment within which the ‘phoenix-ship’ likely came to grief; and the Sicilian context where she was able to bring it back to a second life.

The original manuscript comprises seven complete chapters (covering the years 1969–1973), along with notes for five additional chapters spanning the following years. The editors—both maritime archaeologists—introduce and contextualize the work, and provide a vital reconstruction of the unfinished sections.

The volume includes 72 photographs and maps, many drawn from Frost’s personal archive, and is published in both English and Italian, in accordance with her wishes, to ensure her story reaches the community of Marsala and beyond.

i. List of Illustrations
ii. Foreword
iii. Acknowledgements

I. Introduction (Claire Calcagno)
Honor Frost’s Lost Manuscript
Coming to Sicily: Serendipity
The Shipwreck
Excavation and Publication
The History and Scope of Frost’s Portrait of a Phoenix-Ship
The Phoenix Manuscript in Frost’s Archives
The Genesis of Phoenix and Frost’s Publishing Efforts
The ‘Years of Neglect’
Lead-up to the End
Some Editorial Comments
Translation

II. Honor Frost’s Scientific Legacy: Method and Vision of a Pioneer in the Waters of Marsala (Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri)
The Phoenix Book: The Metaphor and the Protagonists
Epigraphs, Language, and British Connections
Interdisciplinary Approach and Experimental Archaeology
The Question of ‘Replicas’: The Trireme Question
Frost’s Doubts Regarding the Function of the Kothon
Research, Public Archaeology, and Edutainment
Her Legacy: A New Vision of Research

III. The Second Life of a Phoenix: Portrait of a Punic Ship Resurrected in a Sicilian Town, by Honor Frost
Chapter 1. Terra Firma: Marsala and Lilybaeum
Chapter 2. The Coast: Motya and Marsala – Ports and Harbours
Chapter 3. Sicily subacquea – Or, Travels with Phlebas
Chapter 4. The Anchor and Spearhead Site: Disappointment and Discovery
Chapter 5. Rebirth
Chapter 6. ‘Mysteries’, ‘Histories’, and the Captured Ship
Chapter 7. Santa Venera

IV. Reconstructing the Unfinished Portion of The Second Life of a Phoenix (Claire Calcagno)
The Unfinished Chapters and the ‘Missing’ Season
The Seventh Chapter (continued): Chapter 6 / 7? Santa Venera: Recording (1972–3) & Ribs Up’
The Eighth Chapter: ‘Chapter 7. 1974, Planks All Up and the Missing Prow: S[ister] S[hip]’s Ram’
The Ninth Chapter: ‘Chapter 8. 1975–7: “Sweating It out in the Lab” & Theoretical Reconstruction’
The Tenth Chapter: ‘Chapter 9. 1978: Requisitioning [the Baglio] Anselmi; Reconstruction (His Curse)’
The Eleventh Chapter: ‘Chapter 10. 1979–1980: Reconstruction Midships & Ram; 11 maggio’
The Twelfth Chapter: ‘Chapter 11. Waste… What the Press Said’
The Envoi: Ships in Museums

The Revised Twelfth Chapter: ‘Omega – Or, the Second Death of a Phoenix’
‘The End’
Press Petitions
Frost’s Epigraphs
‘The Mystery of the Sicilian… and Mediterranean Character’
Museology: Frost on ‘Different Kinds of “Wet” or “Ship” Museums’
‘Field v[ersus] Interpretive Archaeology’
A Last Note on Publishing: The Final End

V. The Phoenix-Ship Reaches Safe Haven (Claire Calcagno and Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri)

Appendix 1. Bibliographic Sources
Appendix 2. Bilingual Lexicon of Technical Terms
Index

Dr. Claire Calcagno

Claire Calcagno is a maritime archaeologist with an interest in the archaeology of the ancient Central Mediterranean region and maritime exchange systems. She has conducted fieldwork at coastal and shipwreck sites around the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and taught at universities in the U.K. and the U.S. As an independent scholar following her post-doc at M.I.T. she has oriented her research to the historiography of maritime archaeology, and the influence of technology on the evolution of the discipline. Her work as an academic translator ranges from books on biblical archaeology to medieval Venetian manuscripts. Claire holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B. in art history) and the University of Oxford (M.St. & D.Phil. in maritime archaeology).

read more

Dr. Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri

Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri holds a PhD in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Bristol (UK). She conducts scientific research in the field of archaeology, with a particular focus on underwater cultural heritage, conducting both terrestrial and underwater excavations and investigations. Her research areas include ancient harbour cities, shipwrecks, coastal settlement dynamics, sea-level changes, and the study of human interaction with coastal landscapes, with a special focus on the central Mediterranean. She is involved in the protection of underwater cultural heritage within the framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention.

read more

Abstract:

Just over half a century ago, maritime archaeologist Honor Frost led an interdisciplinary team that uncovered an exceptional Punic shipwreck off the western coast of Sicily.

The excavation, study, and conservation of the shipwreck—dated to the 3rd century BCE and now on display at the Museo Archeologico Regionale Lilibeo–Marsala—marked a groundbreaking achievement in the history of underwater archaeology. To this day, the Punic Ship of Marsala remains the only surviving ancient galley of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Second Life of a Phoenix takes shape from an unfinished manuscript by Honor Frost, recently discovered in her personal archives. In her Sicilian memoir, she recounts firsthand her experiences, challenges, and discoveries as director of the Punic Ship Project, while delving into the intellectual debates shaping the emerging discipline of maritime archaeology at that time. She illustrates the Mediterranean environment within which the ‘phoenix-ship’ likely came to grief; and the Sicilian context where she was able to bring it back to a second life.

The original manuscript comprises seven complete chapters (covering the years 1969–1973), along with notes for five additional chapters spanning the following years. The editors—both maritime archaeologists—introduce and contextualize the work, and provide a vital reconstruction of the unfinished sections.

The volume includes 72 photographs and maps, many drawn from Frost’s personal archive, and is published in both English and Italian, in accordance with her wishes, to ensure her story reaches the community of Marsala and beyond.

Contents

i. List of Illustrations
ii. Foreword
iii. Acknowledgements

I. Introduction (Claire Calcagno)
Honor Frost’s Lost Manuscript
Coming to Sicily: Serendipity
The Shipwreck
Excavation and Publication
The History and Scope of Frost’s Portrait of a Phoenix-Ship
The Phoenix Manuscript in Frost’s Archives
The Genesis of Phoenix and Frost’s Publishing Efforts
The ‘Years of Neglect’
Lead-up to the End
Some Editorial Comments
Translation

II. Honor Frost’s Scientific Legacy: Method and Vision of a Pioneer in the Waters of Marsala (Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri)
The Phoenix Book: The Metaphor and the Protagonists
Epigraphs, Language, and British Connections
Interdisciplinary Approach and Experimental Archaeology
The Question of ‘Replicas’: The Trireme Question
Frost’s Doubts Regarding the Function of the Kothon
Research, Public Archaeology, and Edutainment
Her Legacy: A New Vision of Research

III. The Second Life of a Phoenix: Portrait of a Punic Ship Resurrected in a Sicilian Town, by Honor Frost
Chapter 1. Terra Firma: Marsala and Lilybaeum
Chapter 2. The Coast: Motya and Marsala – Ports and Harbours
Chapter 3. Sicily subacquea – Or, Travels with Phlebas
Chapter 4. The Anchor and Spearhead Site: Disappointment and Discovery
Chapter 5. Rebirth
Chapter 6. ‘Mysteries’, ‘Histories’, and the Captured Ship
Chapter 7. Santa Venera

IV. Reconstructing the Unfinished Portion of The Second Life of a Phoenix (Claire Calcagno)
The Unfinished Chapters and the ‘Missing’ Season
The Seventh Chapter (continued): Chapter 6 / 7? Santa Venera: Recording (1972–3) & Ribs Up’
The Eighth Chapter: ‘Chapter 7. 1974, Planks All Up and the Missing Prow: S[ister] S[hip]’s Ram’
The Ninth Chapter: ‘Chapter 8. 1975–7: “Sweating It out in the Lab” & Theoretical Reconstruction’
The Tenth Chapter: ‘Chapter 9. 1978: Requisitioning [the Baglio] Anselmi; Reconstruction (His Curse)’
The Eleventh Chapter: ‘Chapter 10. 1979–1980: Reconstruction Midships & Ram; 11 maggio’
The Twelfth Chapter: ‘Chapter 11. Waste… What the Press Said’
The Envoi: Ships in Museums

The Revised Twelfth Chapter: ‘Omega – Or, the Second Death of a Phoenix’
‘The End’
Press Petitions
Frost’s Epigraphs
‘The Mystery of the Sicilian… and Mediterranean Character’
Museology: Frost on ‘Different Kinds of “Wet” or “Ship” Museums’
‘Field v[ersus] Interpretive Archaeology’
A Last Note on Publishing: The Final End

V. The Phoenix-Ship Reaches Safe Haven (Claire Calcagno and Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri)

Appendix 1. Bibliographic Sources
Appendix 2. Bilingual Lexicon of Technical Terms
Index

Dr. Claire Calcagno

Claire Calcagno is a maritime archaeologist with an interest in the archaeology of the ancient Central Mediterranean region and maritime exchange systems. She has conducted fieldwork at coastal and shipwreck sites around the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and taught at universities in the U.K. and the U.S. As an independent scholar following her post-doc at M.I.T. she has oriented her research to the historiography of maritime archaeology, and the influence of technology on the evolution of the discipline. Her work as an academic translator ranges from books on biblical archaeology to medieval Venetian manuscripts. Claire holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B. in art history) and the University of Oxford (M.St. & D.Phil. in maritime archaeology).

read more

Dr. Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri

Elena Flavia Castagnino Berlinghieri holds a PhD in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Bristol (UK). She conducts scientific research in the field of archaeology, with a particular focus on underwater cultural heritage, conducting both terrestrial and underwater excavations and investigations. Her research areas include ancient harbour cities, shipwrecks, coastal settlement dynamics, sea-level changes, and the study of human interaction with coastal landscapes, with a special focus on the central Mediterranean. She is involved in the protection of underwater cultural heritage within the framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention.

read more










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