A Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Kaş): 1984 CampaignAuthor(s): George F. BassSource:
American Journal of Archaeology,
Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 269-296Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL:
Accessed: 05/12/2009 13:40
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aia.Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Archaeological Institute of America
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
American Journal of Archaeology.
http://www.jstor.org
ABronzeAge Shipwreckat Ulu Burun(Kas):1984Campaign
GEORGE F. BASS
(P1. 17)
AbstractExcavationof a Late BronzeAge shipwreck,tenta-tivelydated to the 14thcenturyB.C.,wasbegun bytheInstituteof NauticalArchaeologyatUluBurunnearKas,Turkey,in 1984. Theshipcarried alarge cargoofrawgoods: copperand tiningotsin the so-called"ox-hide"shape,roundglass ingots,unworkedelephantandhippopotamusivory, figs(orafig product), myrrhorfrankincense,orpiment,andprobablyoliveoil and wine.Manufacturedcargo comprised Cypriot pottery;t isnotyetknown ifMycenaeanandSyro-Palestinianpotteryonboardwascargoor forshipboarduse.Thewreckalsoyielded goldand silverjewelryofCanaanitetypes,aMy-cenaeanseal,bronze tools andweapons,haematiteweights,stoneartifacts,and beadsofglass,faienceandamber. More than half a dozenstone anchors were car-ried. Hull construction s similarto that of later Graeco-Romanships.Comparisonof artifacts from theUluBu-run wreck with those from land sitessuggeststhat theshipwassailingfrom east to west.TheInstitute of NauticalArchaeology(INA)in1984beganthe excavation of a Late BronzeAge ship-wreck less thanakilometer northeastof thetipofUluBurun,acapenearKas,Turkey(ill.1).1The1982discoveryof thesite,only50m.fromshore,was
'The excavation was financedbythe INABoard of Directorsand agrantfrom theNationalGeographic Society.ExcavatorscomprisedGeorgeF.Bass,director;CemalPulak,assistant direc-tor;Donald A.Frey,photographer;Robin C.M.Piercy,chief ofoperations;TufanTuranli,captainof theVirazon;MuratTilev,engineer;Feyyaz Subay,archaeologist;YanceyMebane and KarlRuppert, physicians;Donald M.Rosencrantz,adviser forphoto-grammetry;YasarYildizandAskinCanbazoglufrom theBodrumMuseum ofUnderwaterArchaeology;and INAdirectorsJackW.Kelleyand ClaudeDuthuit. Staff alsoincludedarchaeologistsFaithHentschel,LisaShuey,CherylHaldane,DouglasHaldane,andTexas A&MgraduatestudentsJoeSimmons,DeniseLakey,MichaelHalpern,MichaelFitzgerald,andAleydisVande Moor-tel. WilliamCurtsingerserved asNationalGeographic photo-grapher,andRobertSteadman,MichaelFerris,JoshMorton andJeffMcGrathrepresentedINAFilms, Inc.,which ismakinga doc-umentaryof theexcavation.BahadirBerkaya representedtheTurkishGeneralDirectorate ofAntiquitiesandMuseums. Illus-trations arebyNetiaPiercy,whoemphasizesthatthey largelyarepreliminary,made whenartifactswere wet andinsome instancesnotcompletelycleaned. Part ofthisreportwaswritten while IheldtheGeddes-Harrower Chair ofGreek ArtandArchaeologyattheUniversityofAberdeen inthe autumnof1984;I thankmyhost,Prof. G.P.Edwards,andmanyothers. Ithank alsothe staff oftheAmericanJournalofArchaeology90(1986)
broughttothe attention of INA as the result ofannualsurveysdirectedbyDonaldA.Frey.Thesesurveysweredesignedinpartto locate a LateBronzeAgeshipwreck carryingacargoofcopperingots;2sincetheexcavation of theCapeGelidonyawreck in1960,3wehavehopedthat a similar sitemightbefound and ex-cavated in order to testhypotheses presentedintheGelidonya publication.4Thesurveyteam ofFrey,AskinCanbazoglu,Ce-malPulak,FeyyazSubay,MuratTilev,TufanTu-ranli,and Yasar Yildiz inrecentyearshas inter-viewedmostofTurkey'sactivespongedivers,bothatseaand,duringthe dormantseason,in thedivers'home towns.Inaddition,teammembers continue toinstruct these divers inhow toidentifyancientwreckswhilesearchingforsponges.Thedivers are shown il-lustrations ofamphorasandotherartifacts,includingfour-handledcopper ingots typicalof the LateBronzeAge coppertrade.Thus,wheninthe summer of 1982newspongerMehmetQakirsketchedforhiscaptainone of the"metal biscuits with ears"he had seen on adive nearUluBurun,thecaptain recognizedthe so-called"ox-hide"shapeandinstructedQakirtoreport
SterlingC. EvansLibraryat Texas A&MUniversityforacquiringan excellentarchaeological ibraryinaveryfewyears.After thereportwas submitted forpublicationin1985,a secondexcavationcampaignwascompleted,withadditionalsupportfrom the Nation-alScienceFoundation,andresearch onbothcampaignsbenefitedfrom visits to theRockefellerMuseuminJerusalem,theCyprusMuseum inNicosia,andthe BritishMuseum. Areportonthe 1985campaignisbeingprepared byC.Pulak,and thus Ihave limitedadditions here to afewpertinentidentificationsandcommentsbycolleagues.
2
C. Pulak and D.A.Frey,"TheSearch for aBronzeAgeShip-wreck,"Archaeology8(1985)18-24.
3
G.F.Bass,CapeGelidonya:ABronzeAgeShipwreck(Trans-actionsoftheAmericanPhilosophicalSociety57,part8,Philadel-phia1967).
4
G.F.Bass,"CapeGelidonyaand BronzeAgeMaritimeTrade,"n H.A.Hoffner,Jr.,ed.,OrientandOccident,EssaysPre-sented toCyrusH.Gordon(AlterOrientund AltesTestament22,Neukirchen1973)29-38,tookintoconsiderationonflictingviewspresentednreviews ofCapeGelidonya(supran.3),andmodifiedsomepositions,recognizinginparticularthepossibilitiesthattheshipwasCypriotand that itmayhavesunk inthe 12th ratherthanthe 13thcenturyB.C.69
GEORGE F.BASSIll.1. Late BronzeAgesitesin the Eastern Mediterraneanmentionedn thetexthisdiscoveryto INAarchaeologistsinBodrum.Shortlythereafter,OguzAlpozen,Director of theBo-drum Museum ofUnderwaterArchaeology,sent aninspectionteamofMuseum and INAarchaeologiststoconfirm thediscovery. Theyfound the wreckonasteepslopebetween 44and 51m.deep,and raised onecopperingotfromamongdozensvisible.AspartofINA's 1983surveyof the TurkishcoastbetweenBodrum andAntalya,Pulakdirected a sub-sequent10-day inspectionof the site inAugustofthatyear.5Theresultantsketchplan(ill.2)showed84copperingotsexposedinrows across thesite. Thepo-sitions oftheingotssuggestedthat theends of theshippointedapproximatelywestandeast,thewesternendof thesitebeing uppermoston theslope,withthe rowsofingotsrunningathwartships.Sixpithoi laymostlyto thesouthof theingots,suggestingthedirection inwhich theshiphadlisted when itstruckthesea bed.Astoneweightanchorwas visible at theeastern,deeperend ofthe site. Afewterra-cottaartifacts,afterbeing
5
G.F.Bass,D.A.FreyandC.Pulak,"A LateBronzeAgeShip-wreck atKas,Turkey,"IJNA13(1984)271-79.
6
Bass etal.(supran.5).7Bass(supran.3)61 nos.18-20.PeterThrockmorton,who
noted ontheplan,wereraised assamplesfromasandyarea betweentheuppermostrows ofingotsanda rowof threepithoi.Theyincludedanamphora,apilgrimflask,anda wallbracket,allseeminglySyro-Palestinian inorigin,althoughthe wallbracketcouldbeCypriot.Theseobjectssuggestedat thattime aten-tativedate for the wreckat the end of the 15thorfirsthalf ofthe 14thcenturyB.C.6Othersamplesincludedaroundplano-convex,or"bun,"ngotofcopper;alumpofbrittle,graymaterial ateridentifiedas 99.5%tin;andalargetwig,possibly dunnage,whichprovedto bepistachio(Pistacia,perhapsP.lentiscus).TheUlu Burunwreck,then,appearedto bean-otherindication of asea-route fortheeast-to-westtransportofcopperin theeasternMediterraneanthroughoutthe LateBronzeAge:shipshuggedthecoast aroundtheBayofAntalya,asevidencedbyaprobable16th-or15th-centuryB.C. wrecknearSide,7continuedpastGelidonyaBurnu,asshownbytheshipwhich sank therearound 1200B.C.,then
made thearchaeologicaldiscoveryoftheCapeGelidonyawreck,interviewedspongedivers onKalymnosfamiliar withthiswreck intheBayofAntalya.He wastoldthatitlies near themouthof theManavgatRiver.Thewreck hasso fareludedFrey's attemptsat
[AJA9070
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Recommended
More From This User
Notes
Load more
