Uluburun Shipwreck
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The Uluburun Shipwreck is a well-documented ancient shipwreck of the Late Bronze Age period, discovered off the coastline near the city of Kaş, Turkey in the early 1980s.
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The vessel
The wreck represents a merchant ship of Near Eastern, probably Cypriot or Levantine origin. The ship was about 15 m long and could stow ca. 20 tons of cargo. The hull had been badly damaged, but some parts are preserved, partly by the corrosion products of the copper ingots. The hull was made of cedar wood and constructed of edge-joined planks (shell-based method of ship-building), a technique known from later Phoenician, Greek and Roman ships as well. Fragments of oars have been found as well, the largest was still 1.7 m long and 7 cm thick. The ship had at least 24 stone anchors on board, weighting between 120-210 kg, with two smaller ones of only 16-21 kg weight. Some of the anchors seem to have been spares and served to keep the ship balanced as well. Anchors of the single-hole Ulu Burun type are frequent on the Levantine coast, for example in Tell Abu Hawam, Ugarit and Byblos. Others of similar type have been found at the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck and in Kition on Cyprus.
Dating
The ship has been dated by dendrochronology to 1316-1305 BC, that is, the late Bronze Age. The date was taken from firewood stored aboard, not from the hull itself. The date agrees well with the finds made abord.
Cargo
The ship contained 354 (ca. 10 tons) copper ingots in the typical oxhide-shape, originally stacked in four rows. There were at least 40 tin ingots, which are characterised by a very low lead content. The source of the tin is still a matter of debate, but it might have come from Spain (Tarshish). Other artefacts include unworked glass, ebony, ivory, amber, ostrich eggs, gold and finished goods like fayence- and ivory-vessels, a gold chalice and gold jewellery. Canaanite jars contained terebinth resin.
The more mundane cargo includes Cypriote ring base bowls and white slip bowls, wide mouthed jugs, clay lamps and large pithoi. The Cypriote jugs and bowls are found in the Levant, Egypt, Central parts of the Hittite Empire and in Mycenaean palaces in Greece as well. They might be trade goods of the sailors or merchants, while the metal and the luxury goods have been interpreted as Royal gifts or tribute. A collection of bronze tools could be the equipment of the ship's carpenter. Weapons include six European type spearheads (Bouzek type A2 or B3), that have parallels in the eastern Alps and Italy, and a sword of Italian origin. A bronze pin with globular head is thought to have a central European origin as well. A stone ceremonial axe comes from Bulgaria or the Carpathian Basin.
Excavation
The excavation of the Uluburun wreck was directed by George Bass of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology between 1984 and 1994. The stern of the ship was located at 44 and the bow at 52 m depth. Some of the cargo had been scattered to a depth of over 60 m.
External links
- Bronze Age Shipwreck Excavation at Uluburun (http://ina.tamu.edu/ub_main.htm) - courtesy of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology
sources
- S. Sherratt, Circulation of metals and the end of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, in: C F E Pare (ed.) Circulation of Metals in Bronze Age Europe (Oxford 2000), 82 ff.
- Cemal Pulak, Balance weights from the Late Bronze Age shipwreck at Uluburun in: C F E Pare (ed.) Circulation of Metals in Bronze Age Europe (Oxford 2000).