The Uluburun shipwreck is among the amazing discoveries from the Bronze Age. Near Uluburun (Grand Cape) in Mediterranean Anatolia (Turkey), the wreckage of the ship includes abundant trade cargo.
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The shipwreck dates back to the 14th century BCE, allowing a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a Bronze Age vessel and life at sea. Evidence shows the ship set sail from either a Cypriot (Cyprus) or Syro-Palestinian (Levant) port.
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The wreck is in the Bay of Antalya off the Turkish Turquoise Coast. The Uluburun ship was sailing to an area west of Cyprus in the east Mediterranean toward the Greek Aegean Sea.
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According to shipwreck excavators, the ship was probably headed for one of the Mycenaean palaces on mainland Greece. It collided with the Grand Cape headland, and the crew abandoned ship before it sank.
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The Mycenaean Greek civilization (c. 1600 - 1100 BCE) includes some of the most prolific Bronze Age traders. As well as controlling a number of Mediterranean trade hubs, they have connections with Egypt, another super-trader of the times.
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They also trade with Northern Europeans of the Baltic coast, where precious amber glimmers on the stormy shores. Early trade routes become a network of roads by land, sea and river, some still in use today.
The sunken ship has a cedar keel, a wood obtained from the Cedar Forests of Lebanon and purveyed in part by Phoenician merchants. The cedar also grows in central Cyprus and the south of Turkey.
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Trade wares aboard the ship show a lengthy journey to ports in Europe, Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Mesopotamia. The boat is fully loaded and heading for home.
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Luxury items, gifts intended for royalty and raw materials such as copper and tin indicate a prosperous network of trade among the countries of the Mediterranean and their allies. Baltic amber from the north and blackwood from Africa are among the trade items found.
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Before the discovery of the Uluburun wreck, many trade items exist only in drawings and texts. Over 22,000 dives recover objects from the sea floor. Due to the depth of the seas off the Cape, the underwater site is protected from looters.
The cargo includes copper and tin ingots, specifically made bars or coils of pre-measured quantities of metal. As bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, sometimes 90% and 10%, metalworkers can create ingots in measures to suit this equation.
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Use of ingots encourages standardization in size and dimensions of typical bronze items including shields and weaponry, tools, and ornamentation such as bracelets. Bracelets made with of standard metal content weight are also a type of currency.
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Use of ingots also contributes to higher rates of production by smiths. As they're hammered rather than cast, ox hide ingots aren't exactly the same size, a confounding detail to archaeological purists. Metal or glass ingots are popular items of trade.
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Copper aboard the shipwreck matches that of Cyprus, a prosperous site of copper mining. About a third of the tin is from the Mušiston mine in Uzbekistan.
The rest of the tin is said to come from the Kestel Mine in Turkey's Taurus Mountains. The Kestel mine, a horrific use of child labor, shut down operations by c. 1850 BCE, five hundred years before the Uluburun shipwreck.
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About 150 Canaanite pottery jars are recovered, containing glass beads, olives, and significant amounts of Pistacia (Pistacia lentiscus) resin, an ancient type of turpentine. This resin comes from shrub-like plants native to the Mediterranean.
The earliest intact glass ingots come from the Uluburun shipwreck, in stunning hues of cobalt blue, turquoise and lavender purple. The chemical composition of the cobalt blue ingots matches those of Mycenaean pendant beads.
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From the same source come Egyptian core-formed glass vessels. Before the advent of the glass blow-pipe (Roman Empire c. 50 BCE), hollow glass vessels are created around a removable core.
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The vessel of the Uluburun shipwreck is loaded with gold including scrap metals from Canaanite regions. From Egypt come gold, silver and electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold. Electrum is also mined in Lydia and goes on to create the first coins c. 700 BCE.
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A chalice is the largest gold item aboard. One of the most significant gold finds is a scarab inscribed with the name of Queen Nefertiti of Egypt (c. 1370 - 1330 BCE). The ship also carries steatite (soapstone), a favorite soft stone for carving and making cylinder seals.
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Weapons found at the wreck site include arrowheads, spearheads, maces, daggers, axes and swords. A ceremonial axe of unidentified green volcanic stone comes the area of today's Bulgaria.
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A folding boxwood and ivory writing tablet is among the unique finds. Tools include sickles, awls, drill bits, a saw, tongs, chisels, a ploughshare, whetstones and adzes. Pan-balance weights for measurement and trade are also among the discoveries.
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Most weights are geometric, and some in the shape of animals. Along with ingots the weights are important in developing systems of standardized measurement.
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Spices and edibles aboard include figs, pine nuts, almonds, grapes, olives, safflower, sumac, black cumin, coriander and pomegranates. Other cargo includes:
African blackwood (then called ebony)
ivory - whole and partial hippopotamus and elephant tusks
hippopotamus teeth
tortoise shells
Murex opercula, or rock snail feet (possibly for incense).
ostrich eggshells
pottery and oil lamps from Cyprus
bronze, copper and faience rhyton vessels
Two duck-shaped ivory cosmetics boxes
Ivory cosmetics or unguent spoon
Trumpet
Over two dozen sea-shell rings
Beads of Baltic amber
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Ship Details
The length of the ship is 15 - 16 metres (49 - 52 ft). It has a single mast with sail and a steering oar or rudder on each side. The oars are made so one person can operate both.
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The ship is about 5 meters (16.5 ft) in width, and has the capacity to carry up to twenty tons of cargo. About 17 tons of artifacts have been recovered by divers.
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It's made by the "shell-first" boat building method, popular during the Late Bronze Age. As the name suggests the shell is constructed first and the framework around it. Mortise and tenon construction is used to build the ship. It's made of Lebanese cedar with oak fixtures.
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Since the completion of excavation in September 1994, scientific efforts turn to conservation, study and research. Work continues at the conservation laboratory of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Turkey.
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