Adriatic Sea, which they conducted in their swift galleys. The Romans knew them principally as a people addicted to piracy. The Liburnians constructed different ship types; their galaia was an early prototype of transport galleys, lembus was a fishing ship continued by the present-day Croatian levut, and a drakoforos was apparently mounted with a dragonhead at the prow. Remains of a 10 meter long ship from the 1st century BC were found in Zaton near Nin (Aenona in Liburnia proper), the ship keel with the bottom planking made of 6 rows of wooden boards on each side, joined together and sewn with resin cords and wooden wedges, testifying to the Liburnian shipbuilding tradition style known as "Serilia Liburnica". Deciduous trees (oak and beech) were used, while some climber was used for the cords. A 10th-century AD ship of identical form and size, made with wooden fittings instead of sewn planking joints, was found in the same place, "Condura Croatica" used by the Medieval Croats. Condura could be the closest known vessel to the original "liburna" galley in form, only much smaller, with the features of a quick and agile galley, having a shallow bottom, very straightened but long, with one large Latin sail and a row of oars on each side. Liburna The best known Liburnian ship was their oar-propelled warship, known as a libyrnis (λιβύρνις, λιβυρνίς) to the Greeks and a liburna to the Romans. Liburnae may have been shown in a naval battle scene carved on a stone tablet (Stele di Novilara) found near Antique Pisaurum (Pesaro) and dated to the 5th or 6th century BC. It depicts a legendary battle between the Liburnian and Picenian fleets. The liburna was presented as a light ship with one row of oars, one mast, one sail and a prow twisted outwards. Under the prow was a rostrum made for striking enemy ships under the sea. In its original form, the liburna was similar to the Greek penteconter. It had one bench with 25 oars on each side. Later, in the time of the Roman Republic, it became a smaller version of a trireme, but with two banks of oars (a bireme), faster, lighter, and more agile than biremes and triremes. The liburnian design was adopted by the Romans and became a key part of the Roman Navy, possibly by way of the Macedonian navy, in the 2nd half of the