Choose one of the following topics and prepare a paper of approximately 1,500 words length (about 4-5 pages

at 1 spacing): What sort of information does underwater archaeology provide that traditional excavation on land cannot? What does the Ulu Burun or Ka shipwreck tell us about trade and the distribution of commodities in the Late Bronze Age?

Renfrew and Bahn Archaeology Reader # Book # Quote 79 95 From earliest investigations, using crude diving bells, it has developed into a valuable complement to work on land. More than 1000 shipwrecks are known in shallow Mediterranean waters, but recent explorations using deep-sea submersibles have begun to find Roman wrecks at depths of up to 850 m, and two Phoenician wrecks packed with amphorae discovered off the coast of Israel are the oldest vessels ever found in the deep sea. If the vessels hull survives at all, detailed drawings must be made so that specialists can later reconstruct the overall form and lines, either on paper or in three dimensions as a model or full-size replica. Nautical archaeologists have now excavated more than 100 sunken vessels, revealing not only how they were constructed but also many insights into shipboard life, cargoes, trade routes, early metallurgy, and glassmaking. It is difficult for the archaeologist to learn what commodity was traded against what other commodity, and to understand the mechanics of trade. The discovery of the shipwreck of a trading vessel complete with cargo, is thus of particular value. In 1982, just such a wreck, dating from close to 1300 BC, was found at Ulu Burun, near Kas, off the south Turkish coast in 43 m to 60 m of water. It was excavated between 1984 and 1994 by George F. Bass and Cemal Pulak of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Texas. The ships cargo contained about 10 tons of copper in the form of over 350 of the so-called oxhide ingots already known from the wall paintings in Egypt and from finds in Cyprus, Crete, and elsewhere. It seems evident that at the time of the shipwreck, the vessel was sailing westwards, from the east Mediterranean coast, and taking with it tin, from some eastern source, as well as copper from Cyprus. The pottery included jars of the type known as Canaanite amphorae, because they were made in Palestine or Syria. The exotic goods in the wreck included lengths of a wood resembling ebony, which grew in Africa south of Egypt.

80

374

There was also ivory in the form of elephant and hippopotamus tusks, possible from the eastern Mediterranean Bronze tools and weapons from the wreck show a mixture of types that include Egyptian, Levantine, and Mycenaean forms. His usual circuit probably involved sailing across Cyprus, then along the Turkish coast, past Kas and west to Crete, or more likely to one of the major Mycenaean sites on the Greek mainly, or even further north, as hinted by the discovery on the wreck of spears and a ceremonial scepter/mace from the Danube region of the Black Sea.

229

699

George F. Bass The loss represented by the wreck is revealed in the great distances the cargo was transported by land and sea before being loaded aboard for the voyage. Yet distinctive shape of the ingots, with four legs or handles, may represent Near Eastern influence. Other finds include amber, which has since been identified as a type found in northern Europe, known as Baltic amber. There was also ivory in the form of elephant and hippopotamus tusks, both probably originating along the Syro-Palestinian coast, and ostrich eggs. Canaanite amphorae have been found in both Greece and Egypt, and Cypriot pottery has been identified as Kommos in Crete and in various parts of Egypt. Bronze weapons and tools recovered from the Ulu Burun wreck represent a variety of designs, including Mycenaean, Canaanite, and Egyptian. Jewelry seems mostly Canaanite. The ship carried products of at least seven culturesMycenaean Greek, Canaanite, Cypriot, Egyptian, Kassite, Assyrian, and Nubian. These varied products emphasize the economic ties that existed among Bronze Age kingdoms too often studied today as separate geographic entities.

234

709

236

713

I was soon convinced that the Ulu Burun ship nonetheless carried a royal consignment of some sort dating from the 14th century B.C.in the Late Bronze Age, a period roughly between 1600 and 1050 B.C. If we could match such ingots chemically with tin from a known source,

we could solve one of the great mysteries of the Bronze Age. Own: Found bronze dagger in Ulu Burun then found same dagger photo in archaeological report 238 716 It had been excavated along with several others just like it at Tell el-Ajjul, the site of a Canaanite city in southern Palestine. The information offered strong evidence that our own dagger was probably Canaanite and dated from the Late Bronze Age. If one multiples the story of the dagger by 1,224the number of artifacts we have so far raised and cataloged from the wreck at Ulu Burunone begins to understand what underwater archaeology is really all about. 237 714 However, the unpretentious terra-cotta kylix is of a style popular in the early 14th century B.C., and it thus serves as a relatively accurate dating tool The great number of copper ingots at Ulu Burun could support a theory I had help for more than a quarter of a century: that the Canaanites, or Bronze Age Phoenicians, played a major role in the maritime commerce of the eastern Mediterranean. Scholars ask where is the evidence of Canaanite trade in Mediterranean or the Aegean. Scholars believe that Mycenaeans held a virtual monopoly on seaborne commerce during the Bronze Age. They point out the distribution of myc pottery throughout medit, Bass believe that evidence was on land but quickly vanish because it vanished. I have long believed that that something was Bronze Age raw materials such as copper, tin, ivory, glass, and other substances that were quickly converted on arrival into tools, weapons, ornaments, and household goods. Only disaster such as shipwreck would preserve them in their original form.

238

716

239

718 Much later Robert H. Brill, research scientist at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, analyzed one of our glass ingots. He found it identical in content to blue glass in Egyptian bottles and Mycenaean medallions dating from the same period as the shipwreck.

Did Canaanite glassmakerskeeping their formula secretship ingots of this marvelous and mysterious substance to all parts of the eastern Mediterranean? Once more the wreck at Ulu Burun demonstrated what faint traces, if any, raw materials leave on land. one thing I can saythis ship definitely was coming from Cyprus 718-19 In the end we found nearly every major type of pottery made on Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age. Equally surprising, however, was that the pottery was shipped in a pithos. Such large, open-mouthed jars appear on the decks of Canaanite merchant ships in a 14th-century Egyptian tomb painting.

240

720-21

241

722

The humble kylix is of a distinctive shape in vogue only at the end of, and shortly after, the reign of Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1417 to 1379 B.C. So out ship probably sank during the early 14th century The raw materials on board the Ulu Burun ship, together with the Cypriot pottery and Canaanite amphorae, weapons, and jewelry, all had eastern Mediterranean connections, establishing our ship was sailing from east to west when it sank.

241

723

Cemal proudly handed me a scarab of bone or ivory framed in gold and carved with ornamental hieroglyphs on its base. Is it possible that someone on this voyage worshipped Ptah, who was not only an Egyptian creator of the universe but also the patron gold of craftsmen, especially metalsmiths? Most of the hundred of Canaanite amphorae we had so far excavated had been filled with a yellow resin. the tablets at Knossos likewise refer to huge quantities of resin. Was it used millennia ago just as it is today, in the making of perfume, and was it thus considered a very valuable substance? In 1985, we had found a number of dark logs on the wreck, the largest a yard long. I assumed they were ebony It is the same wood used in an elegant bed, a chair, and a stool in Tutankhamuns tomb. Not only was this the first gold scarab ever found of the Exquisite Beauty of the Aten Nerferiti, as her full name is translated it also was the first artifact found in the Asian Minor or the Aegean that names either the famous Akhenaten or his beautiful wife.

243

726

727

244

729

246

732

What Egyptologist, enduring a cruel sun in pith helmet and desert boots, could have imagined such a discovery coming from the cool blue sea?