Bozburun Byzantine Shipwreck Excavation Bozburun Home, Artifact & Image Gallery, Shipwreck Site Plan

Miscellaneous Finds

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Ship’s Equipment

One of the ship’s anchors, of typical early Byzantine cruciform pattern, appears beneath amphoras at the bottom of the site. It was probably stowed in the bow, and was the only anchor still on board when the ship sank. The position of the wreck, with its stern against the cliff, suggests that the crew had cast one or more anchors to try to keep off the rocks, but the anchors had dragged.  (slide# BK-36.03) Photo: INA.

A closer view of the same anchor. A second anchor, of the same type and size, was found to one side of the stern, but it is not yet clear if this second anchor belongs to this ship. (slide# BK-103.04) Photo: INA.

The Galley – Food preparation and serving

	The crew were well supplied with pottery for eating and drinking. At least nine cooking pots (probably also used as serving bowls) were recovered from the stern. Five intact examples, as well as one of two collar stands for keeping the round-bottomed pots upright, are shown here. These were found in a line across the ship, suggesting that they had been stored on a shelf or against a bulkhead just abaft the hearth. (slide# BK-116.02) Photo: INA.		One of the cooking pots. All seem to be from the same workshop, although one has a single handle. Each is large enough for a single large serving of stew, and so the number of pots may reflect the number of crew. (slide# BK-116.27) Photo: INA.
	At least five pitchers, of varying sizes and styles, were recovered from the stern. They seem to have been stored against the starboard side of the ship, next to the hearth. These three are the most complete, and show the range of types. (slide# BK-95.32) Photo: INA.		One of the pitchers, shortly after its recovery in the 1996 season. (slide# BK-78.23) Photo: INA.
	Incised decoration on one of the smaller pitchers. The form of this pitcher and the decoration are similar to nearly contemporary finds from northern Iran, but it is hard to imagine someone transporting such a utilitarian piece of pottery so far. (slide# BK-44.61) Photo: INA.		In addition to pitchers for use at table, two old pitchers with broken mouths and handles were found in the stern. These had bark stoppers wedged and sealed in the necks. Decanting revealed that they were full of grapes. Although only seeds survived in one of the pitchers, the other produced a handful of recognizable grapes (some shriveled like raisins and others still plump) among thousands of seeds. These pitchers were found together, near an amphora that also contained grapes, and probably represent provisions rather than cargo. (slide# BK-122.24) Photo: INA.
	The stoppered neck of one of the pitchers. (slide# BK-78.21) Photo: INA.		Two jugs of beaten copper sheet were found in the vicinity of the hearth. This photo shows the better preserved of the two after it was raised but before cleaning. The triangular object just below the shoulder is a lead-filled boss that once anchored the base of the now missing handle. Little remained of the second jug (it had been smashed flat ), but it seems to be of generally the same form.  (slide# BK-95.24) Photo: INA.
	The same jug after conservation, showing the opposite side. The body is made of several sheets soldered together, and the basic form is embellished by fine ribbing on the body and neck and by an embossed chevron pattern on the shoulder.  (slide# BK-115.06) Photo: INA.		A detail of the shoulder decoration on the copper jug. (slide# BK-115.12) Photo: INA.

Fishing equipment

Several of the lead fishing net weights (the long, narrow objects on either side of the photo) and one of several lead fishing line sinkers (center) found in several places on the wreck. Many of these may have been caught in the wreck after it sank; the shore has long been a popular fishing spot, and even today, local fishermen continue to tie up along the cliffs in calm weather a fish with both cast nets and lines. Twentieth century net weights (simple rectangular sheets of lead, folded over the net edge) and sinkers do not differ from their medieval or Bronze Age counterparts, and so it is difficult to say which weights may have been part of the ship’s equipment. A small group of net weights, found well down in the deposit on the port side near the stern, may be from the ship, but could as easily be part of a net lost soon after the ship wrecked. (slide# BK-95.16) Photo: INA.

Personal possessions?

	Far in the stern, a small set of fine glassware was found. This consisted of this carefully blown and twisted flask and at least three small goblets. Glassware, especially fine stemware, is not a common find on Mediterranean shipwrecks unless being carried as cargo, as on the 11th-century Serçe Liman ship. This group is more likely the personal property of someone on board, perhaps the captain or a merchant. (slide# BK-115.22) Photo: INA.		One of the three goblets.  (slide# BK-95.07) Photo: INA.
	This small, yellow-glazed jug, was found smashed in the stern, next to one of the glass goblets. It was not in the galley area, and so is probably not connected with food preparation and serving, although it could have held a particularly valuable seasoning. It may have contained salve or unguent. (slide# BK-115.03) Photo: INA.

Raw Materials

	A very small elephant tusk, only 17 cm long (probably from a juvenile animal), found in the stern near the glass flask and goblets. It has been sawn off near the base of the root cavity but is otherwise unworked. Its presence is a bit of a curiosity, but it may have been carried by the owner of the glass. Ivory was used for a range of small, intricate carvings, such as book covers, in the Middle Byzantine period.  (slide# BK-119.15) Photo: INA.		The left antler of a fallow deer (Dama dama), a small deer native to the Mediterranean region. It has been sawn off the skull, and was found near the hearth area. Antler was and is a popular material for making a number of small, hard-wearing practical items, such as knife handles. (slide# BK-119.21) Photo: INA.
	A lump of realgar (arsenic sulfide), as found in the stern. Realgar and another arsenic sulfide, orpiment, are minerals used in the ancient and medieval worlds as pigments (realgar is a similar color to cinnabar, and orpiment is a bright yellow), in medicines, in depilatories, and in several manufacturing processes. Orpiment has been found on virtually every wreck INA has excavated in Turkey, from the Late Bronze Age ship at Uluburun onward, and it may have had a specifically maritime use, as yet unidentified.   (slide# BK-103.22) Photo: INA.

Organic material

These bone fragments and teeth, at first thought to represent provisions, are more likely to be the mortal remains of one of the goats pastured on the slopes above the wreck. (slide# BK-95.14) Photo: INA.

A sample of some of the botanical remains found throughout the wreck. The acorn cap (upper right) is certainly intrusive, as similar scrub oaks still grow on the slopes above the wreck site. The almond (upper left) is more likely to be part of the ship’s provisions, although almonds do grow locally. The olive pit (lower right) is probably part of the ship’s provisions, as it was found deep in the deposit and the wreck has produced at least two amphoras full of olives. On the other had, there is an olive grove on the slopes less than 300 meters to the east along the shore. The small seed … (slide# BK-95.12) Photo: INA