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Bronze Age Shipwreck Excavation at Uluburun |
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Uluburun promontory as viewed from the south. The wreck site is located directly to the right of the INA research vessel Virazon. (Photo: INA) |
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology's (INA) shipwreck excavation between 1984 and 1994 at Uluburun, near Kas in southern Turkey, brought to light one of the wealthiest and largest known assemblages of Late Bronze Age items found in the Mediterranean. The shipwreck lay on a steep rocky slope at a depth of 44 to 52 m, with artifacts scattered down to 61 m.
The ship's cargo, perhaps a royal one.
comprised mostly raw materials. but manufactured goods were also present. The main
cargo was approximately 10 tons of what appears to be primarily Cypriot copper
in the form of 354 flat, usually four-handled rectangular oxhide ingots, and about 120 discoid "bun," or
piano-convex ingots. Also on board was a ton of the earliest securely dated tin
ingots in both bun and four-handled oxhide shapes. Dendrochronological dating
of a small piece of presumably fresh-cut firewood or dunnage suggests a date of
1306 B.C.E., or sometime shortly thereafter, for the sinking of the ship.
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One of 354 four-handled copper 'oxhide' ingots found on the Uluburun shipwreck.(Photo:INA) INGOTS PAGE |
Approximately one ton of terebinth resin
carried in most of the nearly 150 Canaanite jars from the site may have been
for use as incense. The earliest known intact ingots of
glass, some 175 of discoid shape in cobalt blue, turquoise, and a unique
lavender example, are likely the materials mentioned in tablets from Ras
Shamra/Ugarit and Amarna as items traded from the Syro-Palestinian coast. Also
carried on board as raw material were logs of
Egyptian ebony (Dalbergia melanoxylon); ostrich eggshells (probably
intended for use as containers); elephant tusks, and more than a dozen
hippopotamus teeth; opercula from murex seashells (a possible ingredient for
incense); and modified tortoise carapaces (almost certainly sound-boxes for
stringed musical instruments).
The largest group of manufactured goods on
the ship consists of Cypriot fine- and coarseware ceramics.
Nine large storage jars contained Cypriot finewares, pomegranates, and possibly
olive oil. Four faience drinking cups were crafted as the heads of rams and, in
one case, a woman. Poorly preserved bronze and copper caldrons and bowls suggest
these must have also been a component of the manufactured part of the cargo.
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Egyptian scarab naming queen Nefertiti.(Photo: INA) SCARABS & SEALS PAGE |
Canaanite jewelry
included bracelets and gold pendants. Scrap gold and silver was also found in
some quantity, with Egyptian objects of gold, electrum, silver, and stone among
them, including a unique scarab bearing the cartouche
of queen Nefertiti. Thousands of beads are of glass,
agate, carnelian, quartz, faience, ostrich eggshell, and amber. Other artifacts
included two duck-shaped ivory cosmetics
containers, a trumpet carved from a hippopotamus incisor into the shape of a
ram's horn, and more tin vessels and jewelry than had previously been found
throughout the Bronze Age Mediterranean. Bronze tools
comprise awls, drills, chisels, axes, adzes, and a saw. Also found were bronze
spearheads, arrowheads, daggers, swords, and stone maceheads. Lead net and line
sinkers, netting needles for repairing nets, fishhooks, a harpoon, and a bronze
trident are evidence of fishing from the ship. There were two wooden writing
boards (diptychs), each consisting of a pair of leaves joined with an ivory
hinge, and slightly recessed to receive wax writing surfaces. These boards
represent by far the earliest examples of their type. A bronze
female figurine, partly clad in gold, is similar to those of
Syro-Palestinian origin and may have served as the ship's protective deity.
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Contour map of the site topography.(Drawing: M.Smith) |
While the majority of personal possessions
and shipboard items, such as tools, anchors, and oil lamps, indicate that the ship
and its crew were Canaanite or Cypriot, the presence of at least two Mycenaeans
on board is revealed by a pair of lentoid seals, a pair of swords, a pair of
pectorals with glass relief beads, spearheads, curved knives, razors, chisels,
amber beads of Mycenaean types, and more than two
dozen pieces of fine- and coarseware pottery. A
bronze pin, spearheads, and a stone ceremonial scepter/mace head, with its closest
parallel (but of bronze) found in Rumania, suggest connections between the
ship, or at least with some of those on board, and lands to the north of
mainland Greece.
I.
Publications of Excavation Directors:
C. Pulak, “Who Were the Mycenaeans Aboard the Uluburun Ship?” Aegaeum 25. (In press).
C. Pulak, “The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun, Turkey,” in G.F. Bass, ed., Beneath the Seven Seas. (In press.)
C. Pulak, “The Uluburun Shipwreck.” ArkeoAtlas (in Turkish) 3 (2004): 78-89.
C. Pulak, A The Uluburun Hull Remains, @ in H.E. Tzalas, ed., Tropis VII. Proceedings of the 7 th International Symposium on Ship Construction in Antiquity (27 August - 31 August, Pylos) (Athens 2002), pp. 615-636.
C. Pulak, A Paired Mortise-and-Tenon Joints of Bronze Age Seagoing Hulls, @ in C. Beltrame, et al., eds, IX International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology: Boats, Ships and Shipyards ( Venice 2001), [Oxford 2003], pp. 28-34.
C. Pulak, A Evidence for Long-distance Trade from the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun, @ in 2. Symposium des SFB 295: A Kulturelle und sprachliche Kontakte: Prozesse des Wandels in historischen Spannungsfeldern Nordostafrikas/ Westasiens. @ Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 15-17 October 2001 (15-page manuscript). [In press]
C. Pulak, A Cedar for Ships, @ Archaeology andHistory in Lebanon 14 (2001) 24-36.
C. Pulak, A 3,300-Year-Old Testimony (Üç Bin Üç Yüz Y 2 l 2 n Tan 2 ? 2 ), @ National Geographic Magazine (Turkish Edition) November (2001) 114-121. (In Turkish).
C. Pulak, “The Cargo of the Uluburun Ship and Evidence for Trade with the Aegean and Beyond,” in L. Bonfante and V. Karageorghis, eds, Italy and Cyprus in Antiquity, 1500-450 BCE,(Nicosia, Cyprus 2001), pp. 13-60.
C. Pulak A The Uluburun Shipwreck: An Overview, @ Sanat Dünyam 2 z 80 (2000) 184-200. (In Turkish).
C. Pulak, A The Balance Weights from the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun, in C. Pare, ed., Metals Make the World Go Round: Supply and Circulation of Metals in Bronze Age Europe (Oxbow Monograph Series, 2000), pp. 247-266.
C. Pulak, A The Cargo of Copper and Tin Ingots from the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun, @ in Ünsal Yalç 2 n, ed., International Symposium > Anatolian Metal I = , (Der Anschnitt, Bochum, Beiheft 13, 2000), pp. 137-157.
C. Pulak, A Hull Construction of the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun, @ INA Quarterly 26.4 (2000) 16-21.
C. Pulak, A Shipwreck: Recovering 3,000-Year-Old Cargo, @ Archaeology Odyssey 2.4 (1999: Sept./Oct.) 18-29.
C. Pulak, A Aspects of Interregional Maritime Trade as Evidenced by Late Bronze Age Shipwrecks from Southern Turkey, @ in International Conference on Underwater Archaeology (IKUWA): Changes in European Culture Caused by Maritime and Inland Waterborne Trade (1999), p. 199. [As abstract].
C. Pulak, A The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Uluburun: Aspects of Hull Construction, @ in W. Phelps, Y. Lolos, and Y. Vichos, eds., The Point Iria Wreck: Interconnections in the Mediterranean ca. 1200 BC. Proceedings of the International Conference, Island of Spetses, 19 September 1998 (Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology, Athens 1999), pp. 209-238.
C. Pulak, A The Uluburun Shipwreck: An Overview, @ International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 27 (1998) 188-224.
Z.A. Stos-Gale, N.H. Gale, G. Bass, C. Pulak, E. Galili and J. Sharvit, A The Copper and Tin Ingots of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean: New Scientific Evidence, @ in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA - IV), (The Japan Institute of Metals-Aoba, Japan 1998), pp. 115-126.
C. Pulak, A The Uluburun Shipwreck, @ Archaeology and Public Education (Society for American Archaeolog, Public Education Committee) 7.2 (1997) 4, 13.
C. Pulak, A The Uluburun Shipwreck, @ in S. Swiny, R.L. Hohlfelder and H.W. Swiny, eds., Res Maritimae: Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, Nicosia, Cyprus 18-21 October 1994 (ASOR Archaeological Reports 4, Atlanta 1997), pp. 233-262.
C. Pulak and G.F. Bass, A Uluburun, @ in E. Meyers, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (New York and Oxford 1997), pp. 266-268.
G.F.Bass, A Prolegomena to a Study of Maritime Traffic in Raw Materials to the Aegean During the Fourteenth and Thirteenth Centuries B.C., @ in R. Laffineur and P.P. Betancourt, eds, TEXNH: Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 6 th International Aegean Conference, Philadelphia, Temple University, 18-21 April 1996, Aegaeum 16 (1997) 153-170.
C.Pulak, A L = épave d = Uluburun, @ Le monde de la Bible 101 (Nov.-Dec. 1996): 44-45.
C. Pulak and G.F. Bass, A Uluburun, @ in, G.F. Bass, Shipwrecks in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology (Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology Publications 3, Ankara 1996), pp. 60-78.
C. Pulak, A The Uluburun Shipwreck Excavation (Ka Õ ), Final Campaign," XVII. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (in Turkish, Ankara 1996) 215-228.
C. Pulak, A Dendrochronological Dating of the Uluburun Ship, @ The INA Quarterly 23.1 (1996) 12-13.
C. Pulak, A The Shipwreck at Uluburun, @ Arkeoloj ve Sanat (in Turkish, Istanbul) 71 (1995): 4-25.
C. Pulak, “Das Schiffswrack von Uluburun,” in In Poseidons Reich: Archäologie unter Wasser. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie (Mainz am Rhein: verlag Philipp von Zabern) 23 (1995): 43-58.
C. Pulak, A Excavations at Uluburun (Ka Õ ): 1993 Campaign," XV. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (in Turkish, Ankara 1994) 219-237.
C. Pulak, “1994 Excavation at Uluburun: The Final campaign,” INA Quarterly 21.4 (1994) 8-16.
C. Pulak, A Underwater Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1991 Campaign, @ XIV. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 (in Turkish, Ankara 1993) 347-364.
C. Pulak, “The Shipwreck at Uluburun: 1993 Excavation Campaign,” INA Quarterly 20.4 (1993): 4-12.
C. Pulak and G.F. Bass, "The Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1991 Excavation Season," in D.H. Keith and T.L. Carrell, eds., Underwater Archaeology. Proceedings from the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Kingston, Jamaica 1992 (Society for Historical Archaeology 1992) 62-67.
C. Pulak, A The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1992 Field Season, @ INA Quarterly 19.4 (1992): 4-11, 21.
C. Pulak, "Underwater Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1990 Campaign," XIII. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 (in Turkish, Ankara 1992) 385-402.
G.F. Bass, "Evidence of Trade from Bronze Age Shipwrecks," in N.H. Gale, ed., Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean. (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol. 90 [Paul Åströms Förlag, Sweden 1991]) 69-82.
C. Pulak, "The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, 1991 Field Season: “Ingot Summer,”" INA Newsletter 18.4 (1991) 4-10.
C.Pulak, "Underwater Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1989 Campaign," XII. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (in Turkish, Ankara 1991) 293-310.
C. Pulak, "Ulu Burun: 1990 Excavation Campaign," INA Newsletter 17.4 (1990) 8-13.
C. Pulak, "The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1989 Excavation Campaign," in T. Carrell ed., Underwater Archaeology. Proceedings from the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference, Tucson, Arizona 1990 (Society for Historical Archaeology 1990) 52-57.
G.F. Bass, "Nautical Archaeology and Biblical Archaeology," Biblical Archaeologist 53.1 (1990) 4-10.
C. Pulak, "Underwater Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1988 Campaign," XI. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (in Turkish, Ankara 1990) 73-79.
G.F. Bass, "A Bronze-Age Writing-Diptych from the Sea off Lycia," Kadmos. Zeitschrift für vor-und frügriechische Epigrafik 29 (1990) 169.
C. Pulak, "Ulu Burun: 1989 Excavation Campaign," INA Newsletter 16.4 (1989) 4-11.
C. Pulak, "Ulu Burun Bat 2 ? 2 ," Müze 1 (1989) 67-76.
G.F. Bass, "Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ) 1987 Campaign," X. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (Ankara 1989) 307-321.
G.F. Bass, C. Pulak, D. Collon, and J. Weinstein, "The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun: 1986 Campaign," American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989) 1-29.
G.F. Bass, "The Construction of a Seagoing Vessel of the Late Bronze Age," in H.E. Tzalas, ed., Tropis I. Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Ship Construction in Antiquity (30 August - 1 September, Piraeus) (Piraeus 1989) 25-35.
G.F. Bass, "Das Wrack von Ulu Burun," Geo 1 (1989) 84-98.
C. Pulak, "Excavations in Turkey: 1988 Campaign," INA Newsletter 15.4 (1988) 12-17.
C. Pulak and C. Haldane, "The Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): The Fourth Excavation Campaign," INA Newsletter 15.1 (1988) 2-4.
C. Pulak, "The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1985 Campaign," American Journal of Archaeology 92 (1988) 1-37.
G.F. Bass, "Excavations at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1986 Campaign," IX. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 I (Ankara 1988) 371-388.
G.F. Bass, "Lycie: une épave du XIVe siécle avant J.-C.," Encyclopaedia universalis (Paris 1988) 483-486.
G.F. Bass, "Underwater Excavation of the Ulu Burun Shipwreck," VIII. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 II (Ankara 1987) 291-302.
G.F. Bass, "Oldest Known Shipwreck Reveals Splendors of the Bronze Age," National Geographic Magazine 172.6 (December 1987) 692-733.
C. Pulak, "As One Ship is Unearthed, Another is Reassembled," INA Newsletter 12.4 (1986) 4-5.
G.F. Bass, "The Ulu Burun Shipwreck," VII. Kaz 2 Sonuçlar 2 Toplant 2 s 2 (Ankara 1986) 619-635.
G.F. Bass, "Ulu Burun (Ka Õ )-The Second Season," Anatolian Studies 36 (1986) 215-216.
G.F. Bass, "A Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ ): 1984 Campaign," American Journal of Archaeology 90 (1986) 269-296.
C. Pulak and D.A. Frey, "The Search for a Bronze Age Shipwreck," Archaeology 38.4 (1985) 18-24.
G.F. Bass, "Bronze Age Shipwreck," National Geographic 167.1 (1985) 3.
G.F. Bass, "Ulu Burun (Ka Õ )," Anatolian Studies 35 (1985) 211-212.
D.A. Frey, "The Bronze Age Wreck at Ka Õ ," INA Newsletter 10.4 (1984) 4.
G.F. Bass, D.A. Frey and C. Pulak, "A Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ka Õ , Turkey," International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 13 (1984) 271-79.
II. Publications Endorsed by Project Directors:
I. Pini, Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel. Vol. 5, Supplement 3 (Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2003). No. 454. {in press]
C. Ward, A Pomegranates in Eastern Mediterranean Contexts during the Late Bronze Age, @ World Archaeology 34.3 (2003) 529-541.
A. Hauptmann, R. Maddin, M. Prange, A On the Structure and Composition of Copper and Tin Ingots Excavated from the Shipwreck of Uluburun, @ Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 328 (2002) 1-30.
C. Calcagno, A Il relitto di Uluburun (Ka Õ , Turchia): Splendide scoperta dalla Tarda Etè del Bronze, @ in M. Giacobelli, ed., Lezioni Fabio Faccenna. Conference di archeologia subacquea, ( Epuglia, 2001), 85-93.
H.-G. Buchholz, A Ein ausssergewöhnliches Steinzepter im östlichen Mittelmeer, @ Praehistorische Zeitscrift 74.1 (1999) 68-78.
B. Fagan, A Uluburun, @ in Time Detectives ( Simon & Schuster, New York 1995). Pp. 178-192.
S. Gülçür, A Das bronzezeitliche Wrack von Uluburun bei Ka Õ , @ Antike Welt 26 (1995) 453- 461
M. Smith, A 23. The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey, @ in S.R. Rao, ed., The Role of Universities and Research Institutes in Marine Archaeology (National Institute of Oceanography-Dona Paula, Goa 1994) 121-124.
I. Pini, Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel. Vol. 5 Supplement 1B (Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1993). Pp. 453-452.
C. Haldane, A Direct Evidence for Organic Cargoes in the Late Bronze Age, @ World Archaeology 24.3 (1993) 348-360.
R.A. Blanchette and P. Hoffmann, A Degradation Process inWaterlogged Archaeological Wood, @ in P. Hoffmann, et al. eds, Proceedings of the 5 th ICOM Group on Wet Organic Archaeological Materials Conference, Portland/Maine 1993 (Bremerhaven, Germany: ICOM Committee for Conservation Working Group on Wet Organic Archaeological Materials 1993) 111-137.
Caroline E. Fife, G.W. Pollard, G.Y Mebane, A.E. Boso. R.D. Vann, "A database of Open Water, Compressed Air, Multi-day Repetitive Dives to Depths Between 100 and 190 FSW," M.A. Lang and R.D. Vann eds., Repetitive Diving Workshop. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, March 18-19, 1991 (American Academy of Underwater Sciences AAUSDSP-RDW-02-92) 45-60.
P. Warnock and M. Pendleton, "The Wood of the Ulu Burun Diptych," Anatolian Studies 41 (1991) 107-110.
D. Symington, "Late Bronze Age Writing-Boards and Their Uses: Textual Evidence from Anatolia and Syria," Anatolian Studies 41 (1991) 111-123.
R. Payton, "The Ulu Burun Writing-Board Set," Anatolian Studies 41 (1991) 99-106.
C. Haldane, "Organic Goods from the Ulu Burun Wreck," INA Newsletter 18.4 (1991) 11.
M. Pendleton and P. Warnock, "Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis of the Ulu Burun Diptych," INA Newsletter 17.1 (1990) 26-27.
M. Pendleton and P. Warnock, "Scanning Electron Microscope Aided Wood Identification of a Bronze Age Wooden Diptych," IAWA Bulletin n.s. 11.3 (1990) 255-260.
C. Peachey, "Taking Conservation Underwater at Ulu Burun," INA Newsletter 17.3 (1990) 10-13.
S. Mitchell, "Archaeology in Asia Minor 1985-1989," Archaeological Reports for 1989-1990 (British School at Athens) 36 (1990) 86-87.
C.W. Haldane, "Shipwrecked Plant Remains," Biblical Archaeologist 53.1 (1990) 55-60.
J.S. Mills and R. White, "The Identity of the Resins from the Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Ka Õ )," Archaeometry 31.1 (1989) 37-44.
R. Maddin, "The Copper and Tin from the Ka Õ Shipwreck," in A. Hauptmann, E. Pernica and G.A. Wagner eds., Old World Archaeometallurgy (Heidelberg 1987, Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 7) (Deutschen Bergbau-Museums, Bochum 1989) 99-105.
H.H. Hairfield, Jr., and E.M. Hairfield, "Identification of a Late Bronze Age Resin," Analytical Chemistry: Analytical Approach (1989) 41A-45A.
III. Other Popular Accounts Endorsed by Project Directors
C. Roland, A Schatzsuche im ältesten Wrack der Welt, @ PM 4 (1994) 34-40.
"A Bronze Age Time Capsule," in Lost Civilizations: Wondrous Realms of the Aegean (Time-Life Books, 1993) 147-157.
J. Conaway, "Beneath the Sea, Beyond the Ages," American Way 25.4 (1992) 56-64, 92.
B. Weintraub, in "Geographica," National Geographic Magazine 181.5 (1992).
A. Van de Moortel, "Het scheepswrak van Ulu Burun," Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 9 (1992) 4-16.
S. Vinson, "Ulu Burun, La nave del mistro," Airone Mare 84.1 (1988) 28-47.
P. Throckmorton, "The Treasures of Ulu Burun," in The Sea Remembers: Shipwrecks and Archaeology (London and New York 1987) 32-33.
K.C. Smith, "A Remarkable Discovery: The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ka Õ ," INA Newsletter 12.1 (1985) 2-5.