ULUBURUN SHIPWRECK

EKİM BARAN ŞENGÜL

• East shore of Uluburun, south-east of Kaş

• Wreck lay only 60 to 70m off Uluburun’s eastface• 22.413 dives between 42 and 61m totalling 6.613

hours on the seabed

Discovery

• Discovered at 1982 summer by sponge diver Mehmet Çakır

• Inspection team of of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology and INA archaeologists to locate the wreck site

Apparent Route

• The ship set sail from either a Cypriot or Syro-Palestinian port

• Perhaps the ship’s destination was Rhodes

The vessel

• Between 15 and 16 metres• With planks(tahta) and keel of Lebanese cedar(sedir ağacı) and oak

tenons(meşe ağacı)• The ship carried 24 stone anchors(çapa)• Brushwood and sticks served as dunnage(panyol tahtası)

Wooden model of the ship

Cargo

• Mostly of raw materials that were trade items• The cargo matches many of the royal gifts listed in

the Amarna letters found at El-Amarna, Egypt.

The copper and tin ingots(külçe)

• Total 10 tons, consisted of 354 ingots of oxhide type

• 317 are of the typical oxhide shape

• At least 31 unique two-handled ingots

• Oxhide ingots are frequently associated with Syrian merchants and tribute-bearers in Egyptian tomb paintings

copper ingot

The shape itself probably evolved merely to facilitate loading of the ingots onto specially designed saddles or harnesses for ease of transport over long distances by pack animals

• Most of the Uluburun copper ignot’s were marked on their upper, rougher surfaces

• Comprising 32 different shapes• The marks vary in shape from a simple cross to more complicated

forms• Many marks that are associated with the sea and ships

Incised marks thus far observed on the oxhide and bun ingots

Canaanite(Kenani) Jars

• At least 149 Canaanite jars were on the Uluburun ship• One jar filled with glass beads, many filled with olives, but the

majority contained a substance known as Pistacia resin(reçine), an ancient type of turpentine(terebentin)

Canaanite jar of medium size

Glass Ingots

• Approximately 175 glass ingots of cobalt blue, turquoise, and lavender were found on the site

• Glass ingots known, and are quite likely the mekku and ehlipakku listed on Ugaritic and Amarna tablets as trade items from the Syro-Palestinian coast

Discoid glass ingot of cobalt blue colour

Miscellaneous cargo• Logs of blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) • Ivory• Hippopotamus teeth• Tortoise carapace(kaplumbağa kabuğu)• Ostrich eggshells• Cypriot oil lamps• Bronze or copper vessels• Two duck-shaped ivory cosmetics boxes • Trumpet in the form of a ram’s horn carved from a hippopotamus

incisor(su aygırının dişinden)• Than two dozen sea-shell rings, gate, carnelian, quartz,• Gold, bone, seashell

Jewelry, gold, and silver

• 37 gold pieces found are pectorals, medallions, pendants, beads, a small ring ingot, and an assortment of cut and deformed fragments

1 gold disk-shaped pendant 2. gold falcon pendant 3. gold goddess pendant 4. faience beads 5. rock crystal beads 6. agate beads 7. faience beads 8. ostrich eggshell beads 9. silver bracelets 10. gold scrap 11. gold chalice 12. accreted mass of tiny faience beads 13. silver scrap

Perhaps represents the ship’s protective diety: 163 mm

• A bronze female figurine, with its head, neck, hands, and feet covered in sheet gold, is one of the most important finds from the excavation

Weapons and tools

• Arrowheads• Spearheads• Maces• Daggers• Lugged shaft-hole axe• A single armor scale of Near Eastern Type• Four swords• Large number of tools: sickles, awls, drill bits, a saw, a

pair of tongs, chisels, axes, a ploughshare, whetstones, and adzes

Pan-balance weights

• 19 zoomorphic weights• 120 geometric-shaped weights

A pan-balance weigh in the form of a sphinx