the bronze age shipwreck at ulu burun

15
The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun: 1986 Campaign Author(s): George F. Bass, Cemal Pulak, Dominique Collon, James Weinstein Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 1-29 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/505396 Accessed: 05/12/2009 13:46 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may 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 at http://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 printed page 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 forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org

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The Institute of Nautical Archaeology in 1986 com- pleted its third excavation campaign at Ulu Burun, near Kas, Turkey. New finds include a unique gold scarab of Nefertiti that may provide confirmation for a recent the- ory that she served as coregent sometime during the latter years of Akhenaten's reign; a gold medallion with a nude goddess holding a gazelle in each hand, as well as other typically Canaanite gold medallions; a rock-crystal cylin- der seal with gold caps, probably Kassite; an Old Babylo- nian hematite cylinder seal recut by an Assyrian artisan,

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Page 1: The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun

The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun: 1986 CampaignAuthor(s): George F. Bass, Cemal Pulak, Dominique Collon, James WeinsteinSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 1-29Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/505396Accessed: 05/12/2009 13:46

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 ofcontent 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 [email protected].

Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toAmerican Journal of Archaeology.

http://www.jstor.org

Page 2: The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun

The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun: 1986 Campaign

GEORGE F. BASS, CEMAL PULAK, DOMINIQUE COLLON, AND JAMES WEINSTEIN

Abstract

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology in 1986 com- pleted its third excavation campaign at Ulu Burun, near Kas, Turkey. New finds include a unique gold scarab of Nefertiti that may provide confirmation for a recent the- ory that she served as coregent sometime during the latter years of Akhenaten's reign; a gold medallion with a nude goddess holding a gazelle in each hand, as well as other typically Canaanite gold medallions; a rock-crystal cylin- der seal with gold caps, probably Kassite; an Old Babylo- nian hematite cylinder seal recut by an Assyrian artisan,

perhaps during the Amarna period; and, in a pithos, the earliest known diptych of the type which held wax for writing surfaces. More weights, bronze tools and weap- ons, pottery, and copper and tin ingots also came to light, as did another faience ram's-head rhyton. At the deeper end of the site, several more stone anchors were uncov- ered, bringing the known total on board to 12. The site's ultimate contributions to the history of trade, internation- al relations, and technology must await complete exca- vation and more positive dating.

The following report is divided into three sections, on the excavations, the cylinder seals, and the gold scarab.

I. EXCAVATIONS AT ULU BURUN IN 1986*

George F. Bass and Cemal Pulak

During the summer of 1986, the Institute of Nauti- cal Archaeology (INA) continued excavation of a Late Bronze Age shipwreck off Ulu Burun, near Ka?, in southern Turkey.' Diving began on 7 June and con- tinued until the end of August. Once more, part of the staff lived ashore in a camp built onto the southeastern face of the rock promontory, while others lived aboard the Virazon, again moored above the site. Diving, mapping, and excavating techniques were the same as those used in previous campaigns.

* The 1986 campaign was financed by the INA Board of Directors, the Anna C. and Oliver C. Colburn Fund of INA, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the National Geo- graphic Society and the National Science Foundation. The excavators were G.F. Bass, director; Cemal Pulak, assistant director; Donald A. Frey, photographer; Robin C.M. Pier- cy, chief of operations; Tufan Turanli, captain of INA's re- search vessel Virazon; Murat Tilev, engineer; and Yancey Mebane, Karl Ruppert, and David Perlman, physicians. Staff also included archaeologists Douglas Haldane, Faith Hentschel, Lisa Shuey, and Shelley Wachsmann; Texas A&M graduate students Nicolle Hirschfeld, Ralph Peder- sen, Lillian Ray, and Stephen Vinson; conservators Jane Pannell and Robert Payton; and illustrators Netia Piercy (figs. 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 18), Sema Pulak (figs. 7, 11, 16 and 21), and Anika Liversage (fig. 27). Yasar Yildlz repre- sented the Turkish General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums.

See C. Pulak and D.A. Frey, "The Search for a Bronze Age Shipwreck," Archaeology 38:4 (1985) 18-24 for the dis-

Diving twice daily, with nearly six hours between dives, six days a week, we compiled 60 dives to be- tween 50 and 140 ft (15 and 43 m), 1125 dives to be- tween 140 and 150 ft (43 and 46 m), 1580 dives to between 150 and 160 ft (46 and 49 m), and 2 dives to 170 ft (52 m), totalling 512 hours on the site in 1986.

Work was again concentrated on the shallower half of the site, west of the large rock outcrop (figs. 1 and 2). We hoped to excavate completely the area upslope of the uppermost rows of amphoras and copper ingots,

covery of the site. A 10-day inspection in 1983 is described by G.F. Bass, D.A. Frey, and C. Pulak, "A Late Bronze Age Shipwreck at Kas, Turkey," IJNA 13 (1984) 271-79, and the first excavation campaign by G.F. Bass, "A Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Kas): 1984 Campaign," AJA 90 (1986) 269-96, and G.F. Bass, "The Ulu Burun Ship- wreck," VII. Kazz Sonuclarz Toplantzsz (Ankara 1986) 619- 35 (hereafter VII. KST). For the 1985 campaign see C. Pu- lak, "The Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun, Turkey: 1985 Campaign," AJA 92 (1988) 1-37, and G.F. Bass, "Underwater Excavations of the Ulu Burun Shipwreck," VIII. Kazz Sonuclarz Toplantzsz 2 (Ankara 1987) 291-302 (hereafter VIII. KST 2). The site has also been published in popular form, with color photographs of many of the arti- facts, in G.F. Bass, "Oldest Known Shipwreck Reveals Splendors of the Bronze Age," National Geographic 172:6 (December 1987) 692-733. The two cylinder seals de- scribed here have been illustrated previously: D. Collon, First Impressions: Cylinder Seals in the Ancient Near East (London 1987) 135-37, nos. 570-71.

American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989) 1

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

Fig. 1. Wreck seen from northeast

approximately grid squares L-10 to N-10 and L- 1 to N-11, where many small finds were recovered in 1985, including a scarab and a plaque with Egyptian hieroglyphs, as well as all of the gold jewelry found that year. This goal was not realized because the area continued to be surprisingly rich in small artifacts, and because newly discovered deposits of artifacts ex- tended the known boundaries of the site. We contin- ued mapping and removing the aforementioned rows of amphoras and ingots, which had been discovered under a thick layer of marine encrustation in 1985. To the south of these regions, we completed excavation of the narrow, sand-filled gully that had in 1984 pro- duced such diversified finds as a gold chalice, a falcon-

shaped gold pectoral, elephant and hippopotamus tusks, glass ingots, amber and faience beads, an am-

phora filled with glass beads, and several bronze

weapons, and which in 1985 had yielded two bronze swords and scrap silver in the vicinity of pithos KW 250. Excavation was extended below this gully to the rock outcrop and across the remainder of the up- per half of the wreck. During this time the rows of

2 0. Negbi, Canaanite Gods in Metal: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Syro-Palestinian Figurines (Tel Aviv

ingots extending downslope to the north of the rock

outcrop were mapped but not removed. Lastly, to- ward the end of the campaign, exploratory dives at the

deepest visible part of the site revealed two previously unknown anchors at a depth of 51 m; these may mark the westernmost extent of the site. During these ex-

ploratory dives, a pithos, which seems to have rolled down the steep slope, was spotted lying far below the rest of the wreck, at an estimated depth of 58 m.

Grid square M-l 1, in the first area mentioned, con- tinued to yield gold jewelry, including pendants of four known Canaanite types: KW 703 is a pear- shaped sheet of gold, 9.1 cm high, its ribbon loop for

suspension rolled forward and scored vertically (fig. 3). The pendant bears the framed repousse figure of a nude female holding a gazelle in each raised hand. The figure faces forward, wearing a crown, but her feet are in profile to her right. She wears four bracelets on each wrist, and pairs of anklets. The figure is al- most certainly that of a deity of uncertain identifica- tion, being a good example of Ora Negbi's "Pictorial Qudsu" group,2 as well as of K.R. Maxwell-Hyslop's

1976) 99-100, except the Ulu Burun figure does not wear a Hathor wig.

[AJA 93 2

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THE BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK AT ULU BURUN: 1986 CAMPAIGN

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

Fig. 4. Gold roundel KW 756. 3:2

(fig. 4). It is decorated in repousse by a four-pointed star with curved rays between its straight rays, all out- lined by incised lines; single repousse bosses are cen- tered in the fields between the rays, and the edge of the pendant is outlined by repousse dots. This star-with- curved-ray motif is much more like the common motif

Fig. 3. Gold pear-shaped pendant KW 703. 3:2

group b of nude goddess pendants3 and P.E. McGov- ern's type II.B.1.4 Four of these are in sheet gold from Minet el-Beida and one in cast bronze from Akko, while another, of cast gold from Zincirli in Anatolia, may be of later, Iron Age date;5 a parallel from Minet el-Beida has gazelles held in a manner similar to that on the Ulu Burun medallion.6

Sheet-gold pendant KW 756 is a roundel, 4 cm in diameter, with its suspension loop also rolled forward

3 K.R. Maxwell-Hyslop, Western Asiatic Jewellery c. 3000-612 B.C. (London 1971) 139.

4 P.E. McGovern, Late Bronze Palestinian Pendants (JSOT/ASOR Monograph 1, Sheffield 1985) 30.

5 Negbi (supra n. 2) 100, 135. 6 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 139, pl. 106; C.F.A.

Fig. 5. Gold rectangular pendant KW 757. 2:1

Schaeffer, "Les fouilles de Minet-el-Beida et de Ras Sham- ra, troisieme campagne," Syria 13 (1932) pl. 9.1; C.F.A. Schaeffer, Ugaritica II (Paris 1949) 36-37, fig. 10; Negbi (supra n. 2) 100 with fig. 119, pl. 53.1701, and 191 for bibliography.

4 [AJA 93

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THE BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK AT ULU BURUN: 1986 CAMPAIGN

Fig. 6. Gold horn-shaped pendant KW 892. 3:2

seen in various materials at Ugarit, Alalakh, and She- chem than is that on gold roundel KW 138, found on the wreck in 1984.7 Two gold roundels from Shechem provide parallels for KW 756.8

Rectangular pendant KW 757, with rounded cor- ners, is 2.5 cm high (fig. 5). The figure of a standing woman, facing right, is scratched on its surface. Her hair hangs straight behind her ear to below her shoul- der. Three horizontal scratches cross her waist. Her skirt is flounced, with three horizontal lines above the

;~' ~ ;:-

Fig. 7. Whetstone KW 701. 1:1

7 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 289-90, pl. 17.4, with references to those at Ugarit, Alalakh and Shechem in notes 117-19, 121; Bass, VII. KST (supra n. 1) 628, 635 fig. 11. This is Type

Fig. 8. Bronze hoe KW 839. 1:3

hem, like those of the wife of the Syrian merchant, shown newly arrived in Egypt by ship, in the 15th- century Tomb of Nebamun at Thebes.9 The figures

Fig. 9. Bronze fishhook KW 924. 1:1

VI.G.1 in McGovern (supra n. 4) 75. 8 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 144, pl. 115. 9 T. Save-Soderbergh, Four Eighteenth Dynasty Tombs

1989] 5

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

her lower skirt, perhaps an underskirt, is cross- hatched, and there is only one line above this, perhaps the hem of an outer garment; two lines cross her waist; both elbows are bent sharply, the forearms held up with the palms of the hands facing away from the body. Another pendant, from the same hoard, has a male figure on its surface,"I as does a pendant of the same family from Tell Abu Hawam.12 All of these pendants have their suspension loops rolled forward. It is of interest that the two females face to the right, whereas the males face left.

The fourth gold pendant from Ulu Burun, KW 892 (fig. 6), is of Maxwell-Hyslop's horn-shaped type,'3 with solid-cast horns and a rolled-over hollow loop for suspension; its crescent is 4.4 cm wide. Maxwell-Hys- lop says the type was especially popular in the 15th and 14th centuries.'4 Good parallels appear in the hoard at Shechem that produced the best parallels for roundel KW 756, above. The type also occurs at Me- giddo,'5 Tell el-Ajjul,'6 Beth Shan, Gezer, and Ras Shamra,17 and in Greece and Cyprus.18

Also found here were two cylinder seals (KW 714 and KW 881), discussed in Part II by Collon, and a

a-z,

Fig. 10. Bronze knife KW 800. 1:2

resemble one another also in that on each the arm far- ther from the viewer hangs down but slightly forward, whereas the arm nearer the viewer is held forward and upward. The Ulu Burun pendant is similar to but slightly smaller than a sheet-gold pendant found in a hoard of probable Late Cypriot IIIA1 date at Hala Sultan Tekke that may be jewelry "of a non-Cypriote woman, from Egypt or Palestine."'0 On the Hala Sul- tan Tekke example, the woman's hair is similar, but

(Private Tombs at Thebes 1, Oxford 1957) pl. 23; G.F. Bass, Cape Gelidonya: A Bronze Age Shipwreck (TAPS 57, part 8, 1967) 65, fig. 74.

10 P. Xstrom et al., Hala Sultan Tekke 8. Excavations 1971-79 (SIMA 45:8, Goteborg 1983) 8 no. N 1157j, 9-10, 13 fig. 9. The hoard was originally thought to be from perhaps as early as 1500 B.C., K. Nicolaou, "Archaeological News from Cyprus, 1977-1978,"AJA 84 (1980) 67, pl. 13.24.

11 Astrim et al. (supra n. 10) 8 no. N 1157k, 13 fig. 10; Nicolaou (supra n. 10) pl. 13.23.

12 R.W. Hamilton, "Excavations at Tell Abu Hawam," QDAP 4 (1935) no. 416 on p. 64, pl. 39.1, designated Type

a b

Fig. 11. Agate lentoids a) KW 840, and b) KW 793. 1:1

II.B.3 in McGovern (supra n. 4) 32-33, 156 pl. 6.76 (cf. Type II.B.l.b on p. 30).

13 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 149-50, pl. 115; this is Type VI.B.1 in McGovern (supra n. 4) 68-69.

14 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 151. 15 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 150-51. 16 F. Petrie, Ancient Gaza IV. Tell el Ajjul (London 1934)

pl. 20.168 and 174. 17 Maxwell-Hyslop (supra n. 3) 151. 18 K. Niklasson in Astrom et al. (supra n. 10) 177-78

no. 1247, 201 fig. 471.

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[AJA 93 6

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THE BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK AT ULU BURUN: 1986 CAMPAIGN

Fig. 12. Faience ram's-head rhyton KW 707. Ca. 1:1

unique gold scarab of Queen Nefertiti (KW 772) that is illustrated and treated in Part III by James Weinstein.

In this same deposit were bronze arrowheads, quartz and faience beads, lead fishing-net weights, a few small bronze tools, a whetstone (KW 701: fig. 7; 1. 0.06), and stone balance-pan weights.

Less than half a meter upslope from these finds were three bits of scrap gold. Two are the joining halves of roundel KW 956, identical to the pendant with granulated lotus palmette found here in 1985.19 The third is part of a possible gold bar or disc (KW 928), its edges removed by chisel. Bronzes in this

deposit included a hoe (KW 839: fig. 8; 1. 0.30) of

Cape Gelidonya Type 5;20 three sickles; several ar- rowheads; and four fishhooks, including KW 924 (fig.

19 Pulak (supra n. 1) 26-27, fig. 32; Bass, VIII. KST 2 (supra n. 1) 292, 299 fig. 3.

20 Bass (supra n. 9) 91 with fig. 104.B68. 21 F. Petrie, Ancient Gaza III. Tell el Ajjul (London 1933)

pl. 22.85-88; J.-C. Courtois, Alasia III (Paris 1984) 18, with additional references to Syria and Cyprus, and 176 fig. 6.12-13; S. Iakovidis, Excavations of the Necropolis at Perati (Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, Occasional Paper 8, 1980) 95, 96 fig. 118; S.G. Miller, "Excavations at Nemea, 1975," Hesperia 45 (1976) 184, pl. 33a suggests the longevity of the type.

22 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 288-89, 290 ill. 28.

9; pres. 1. 0.05), of a type known throughout the east- ern Mediterranean.21 Here, too, was found a bronze finger cymbal (KW 923) which matches that found in 1984.22 KW 800 (fig. 10; 1. 0.23), the only complete bronze knife of its type yet recovered from the wreck, has a down-curving blade like examples found at least in Mycenaean contexts in western Asia Minor and Rhodes.23 Other finds in the deposit include lead fish-

ing-net weights, a lead and several stone balance-pan weights, and faience beads of a type recovered during previous campaigns.24

In neighboring squares N-11 and N-12 were seven

fragmentary tin ingots, some easily recognized as hav- ing been cut from the typical four-handled "ox-hide"

shape.25 Here, too, were found two possible Minoan

23 N.K. Sandars, "Later Aegean Bronze Swords," AJA 67 (1963) 140-42, pl. 27.54, 56-57, and J. Deshayes, Les outils de bronze, de lIndus au Danube 2 (Paris 1960) 136 no. 2596, pl. 43.2596; 132 no. 2529, pl. 42.2529; and, for knives from Mycenae with straight blades but with handles terminating in knobs like that at Ulu Burun, 134 nos. 2554 and 2555, pl. 43.2554-2555. Other examples, from the My- cenaean cemetery at Musgebi, near Bodrum, are displayed in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.

24 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 286-87, 289 ill. 26; Pulak (supra n. 1)25. 25 Pulak (supra n. 1) cf. 9 fig. 4, 10 fig. 5.

1989] 7

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

Fig. 15. Glass relief bead KW 829. 2:1

Fig. 13. Bronze fishhook or gaff KW 1225. 1:2

or Mycenaean seal blanks of agate:26 KW 840

(fig. 1 la; diam. 0.016) in N-12, and KW 793 (fig. 1 lb; diam. 0.026) in M-12.

Fourteen Canaanite amphoras and two pilgrim flasks were raised from the heavily encrusted deposit just downslope; other amphoras remain embedded in the concretion. Here, also, was a nearly intact faience

rhyton (KW 707: fig. 12; 1. 0.18) in the shape of a ram's head. It is the fifth rhyton of this type found on the wreck, and its condition allows us to note that it is similar to, but not identical to, faience rhyta in the same form from Enkomi27 and Tell Abu Hawam.28 Conservator Robert Payton notes that it seems to have been broken and mended in antiquity.

Close to this area was the joining fragment of stone mace-head KW 278, found in 1985.29

Fig. 14. Bronze balance-pan weight KW 873. 1:1

26 Cf. J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings (Lon- don 1970) 49 [color plate] no. 3; on p. 63, however, Board- man cites evidence that the string-hole was bored after the engraving of a seal, and the Ulu Burun stones are al- ready bored; a Mycenaean preference for banded agates in LH I-IIIA is noted on p. 57.

27 A.S. Murray, A.H. Smith, and H.B. Walters, Excava- tions in Cyprus (London 1900) 33, with fig. 61.1212 and pl. 3.

28 Hamilton (supra n. 12) 65 no. 428, pl. 30. 29 Pulak (supra n. 1) 24.

In disassembling the row of copper ingots marking the lower border of the amphora deposit, we discov- ered that they were stacked neatly on a cushion of thorny burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum)30 reminis- cent of the dunnage found beneath copper ingots on the Cape Gelidonya wreck.31 Seeds of this species, common throughout the eastern Mediterranean, have been found on virtually all of the shipwrecks we have excavated in the Mediterranean, as well as in ampho- ras of various periods recovered during INA's annual surveys,32 but this discovery at Ulu Burun provides the first direct evidence of the plant's use. Preserved by copper corrosion products between the ingots were many more murex opercula like those noted previous- ly.33 Perhaps preserved in the same way were numer- ous tiny faience beads in several colors, like discoid

Fig. 16. Rock-crystal bead KW 767. 1:1

30 C.W. Haldane, "Archaeobotanical Remains from Four Shipwrecks off Turkey's Southern Shore," Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of the Organization for the Phyto-Tax- onomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area, Istanbul, 12 September 1986, forthcoming.

31 Bass (supra n. 9) 49, 168-69. 32 Haldane (supra n. 30). W. van Zeist first brought this

identification to our attention (letter of 21 April 1986 to Aleydis van de Moortel).

33 Pulak (supra n. 1) 5.

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THE BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK AT ULU BURUN: 1986 CAMPAIGN

Fig. 17. African blackwood log (Dalbergia melanoxylon). 3:20

beads found in 1984,34 the latter seemingly bleached of color.

Downslope of these ingots was a row of three pairs of anchors, one anchor in each pair resting on the other. A solitary anchor lay at the northernmost end of the row, but a newly uncovered anchor, far down the steep slope in squares P-18 and P-19, may be a miss- ing mate for it, suggesting a fourth pair.

In the approximate area from which pithos KW 251 was raised in 1984, a number of Cypriot ce- ramic pieces were found, some identical to those re- moved from the pithos in 1984.35 They may represent additional contents of the pithos: White Shaved juglet KW 1058, Base-ring II bowl KW 730, and a frag- mentary White Slip II milk-bowl, along with saucer- shaped lamp KW 105936 and pitcher KW 812 with trefoil mouth. In the same general area, but slightly to the south, were pilgrim flasks37 in at least three sizes (large KW 747; medium KW 795; small KW 761 and 776), wall brackets KW 759 and KW 1001,38 saucer-

shaped lamp KW 760 with fire-blackened nozzle,39 a badly damaged stirrup jar (KW 905), four amphoras, a glass ingot,40 fragments of tin ingots, over 100 lead fishing-net weights in two sizes, several small bronze tools, parts of what may be a pair of bronze tongs, and

34 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 274. 35 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 279-81, ills. 10-12; Bass, VII.

KST (supra n.1) 626-27, 633 figs. 6-7. 36 Cf. Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 281,282 ill. 14; Bass, VII. KST

(supra n. 1) 626, 634 fig. 9. 37 Cf. Bass, Frey and Pulak (supra n. 1) 276, 277 fig. 7;

Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 284-85, 286 ill. 21; Bass, VIII. KST2 (supra n. 1) 295, 301 fig. 8; Pulak (supra n. 1) 12 fig. 7.

38 Cf. Bass, Frey and Pulak (supra n. 1) 273, 276 with fig. 6; Bass, VIII. KST2 (supra n. 1) 297, 302 fig. 12.

39 Cf. Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 285, 287 ill. 22; Pulak (supra n. 1) 13, 12 fig. 6.

40 Cf. Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 281-82 with ills. 15-16; Bass, VII. KST (supra n. 1) 624, 633 fig. 5. See also "Glass Gal- lery Opens at Bodrum Museum," JGS 28 (1986) 117-18 with fig. 2.

41 This does not seem to be a duck, as is clearly the case with KW 350 (Pulak [supra n. 1] 30 with fig. 37, 31; see

a large bronze fishhook or gaff, with its barb on the outside (KW 1225: fig. 13; pres. 1. 0.10). A few bal- ance-pan weights here include KW 727, a recumbent young animal (perhaps a calf) weighing 3.15 g, and KW 873 (fig. 14; 1. 0.021), shaped like a water fowl,41 weighing 2.02 g. Among a number of glass, faience, and stone beads was a blue glass relief bead (KW 829: fig. 15; 1 0.026) of seeming Mycenaean manufac- ture,42 a rock-crystal bead (KW 767: fig. 16; diam. 0.016) similar to one from a Late Minoan tomb,43 and another possible Minoan or Mycenaean seal blank (KW 819) of a green stone, possibly steatite. A broken ostrich egg44 and a meter-long, unworked piece of

Fig. 18. Bronze chisel KW 748. 3:5

J.-C. Courtois, "Le tresor de poids de Kalavassos-Ayios Dhimitrios 1982," RDAC (1983) 123, 126, pl. 17.5, where a fowl also with a long neck is identified as a duck or related animal.

42 Cf. V.R.d'A. Desborough, The Last Mycenaeans and Their Successors (Oxford 1964) pl. 20a, relief beads of "glass paste," probably from lalysos.

43 Cf. C.W. Blegen, Prosymna (Cambridge 1937) fig. 599.10; and S. Hood, G. Huxley and N. Sandars, "A Mino- an Cemetery on Upper Gypsades," BSA 53-54 (1958- 1959) 250 no. X.11, 258 fig. 35.X.11 for an example with seven flutes.

44 See D.S. Reese, "The Kition Ostrich Eggshells," Ap- pendix VIII(B) in V. Karageorghis, Excavations at Kition V, Part 2 (Nicosia 1985) 371-82, and A. Caubet, "Les oeufs d'autruche au Proche Orient ancien," RDAC (1983) 193- 98 for references to past discoveries in the eastern Mediter- ranean. See now D. White, "1985 Excavations on Bates's

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

Fig. 19. Wooden diptych KW 737. 1:1

dark, dense African blackwood or Dalbergia melan- oxylon (fig. 17), called ebony by the ancient Egyp- tians,45 represent exotic trade goods. Lastly, scarab KW 904, discussed by Weinstein in Part III, is of the Second Intermediate Period.

Before being raised, seemingly intact but badly cracked pithos KW 252, just south of pithos KW 251 (fig. 2), was emptied of sediment and then disassem- bled under water. The sediment contained numerous seeds and other parts of pomegranates, suggesting to Cheryl Haldane that the jar contained whole pome- granates. Also recovered from the jar were several bal- last stones, bronze chisel KW 748 (fig. 18; 1. 0.92) of a type especially common in the Levant,46 bronze razor KW 749 (similar to KW 344 raised in 1985),47 and wooden diptych KW 737 (fig. 19).

The diptych, reassembled from more than 25 frag-

Island, Marsa Matruh," JARCE 23 (1986) 79 with n. 71. We thank Dominique Collon for referring us to C.S. Gans- dale, Animals of Bible Lands (Exeter 1970) 191-92, for the Near Eastern distribution of the ostrich in more recent times. Nicolle Hirschfeld has brought to our attention a fragment from the storeroom complex at Gla (Prakt 1982, 105-108).

45 The wood was identified by Donna Christensen of the

ments, is of obvious importance for our knowledge of Bronze Age literacy. It consists of two rectangular wooden leaves, 6.2 cm wide by 9.5 cm high, joined by a three-piece, cylindrical ivory hinge; plugged holes indi- cate that the hinge had been replaced or repaired in an- tiquity. The central piece of the hinge could not be lo- cated, despite our efforts. The inner faces of the leaves were slightly recessed, and scored with crosshatching for the retention of wax writing surfaces. The inner- most margin of one leaf was incised with geometric marks. A pair of small holes piercing this leaf may have been for a device to keep the diptych closed. It is proba- ble that the diptych was closed while in the pithos, for its inner faces had not suffered as much erosion as the outer surfaces. The earliest previously known writing tablets of this sort were found in a well at Nimrud, from the late eighth century B.C.48 On the walnut Nimrud

Center for Wood Anatomy Research, U.S. Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin. For Egyptian ebony see A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries4 (London 1962) 434-36.

46 Bass (supra n. 9) 99-100 fig. 112.B 129. 47 Pulak (supra n. 1) 14, 15 fig. 10; Bass, AJA 90 (1986)

292-93 with ill. 33, where a similar blade is called a knife. 48 M.E.L. Mallowan, "The Excavations at Nimrud

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Fig. 20. Hippopotamus canine KW 744. 1:4

diptych, traces of beeswax bearing cuneiform inscrip- tions were preserved; analysis of the beeswax showed it to be mixed with about 25% orpiment,49 and this may explain why an amphora of orpiment was on the Ulu Burun ship.50 The Ulu Burun tablet demonstrates that Homer's mention of folding wooden tablets (II. 6.169) was not anachronistic.

Removal of the fragments of pithos KW 252 re- vealed three more hippopotamus teeth, one incisor and two canines (fig. 20); the four hippopotamus teeth so far recovered51 do not seem to come from the same animal. Recent discoveries of hippopotamus teeth at other Bronze Age sites in the eastern Mediterranean suggest that hippopotamus ivory was used more ex- tensively than previously known.52 Pottery discovered under the pithos included two pilgrim flasks (KW 791

Fig. 21. Shell ring KW 801. 1:1

(Kalhu)," Iraq 16 (1954) 98; D.J. Wiseman, "Assyrian Writing Boards," Iraq 17 (1955) 3.

49 Mallowan (supra n. 48) 99; Wiseman (supra n. 48) 5. 50 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 278-79; Bass, VII. KST (supra

n. 1) 626. 51 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 283, 285 ill. 19. 52 A. Caubet and F. Poplin, "Les objets de matiere dure

animale etude du materiau," Ras Shamra-Ougarit III (Pa-

Fig. 22. Metal pilgrim flask KW 1085. 1:2

and 1183), several Canaanite amphoras, spindle bot- tle KW 844, and coarse-ware stirrup jars KW 1188 (h. 0.44) and KW 1198 (h. 0.45). KW 1198, which contained almost every type of seed we have recovered from the wreck, as well as several dozen faience and stone beads and a large fleck of orpiment, is similar in shape and painted decoration to LH IIIA:2-IIIB stir- rup jars from the House of the Wine Merchant at Mycenae.53 Also in this area were two rings, most likely fashioned from Mediterranean top shells,54 one found in the mouth of stirrup jar KW 1198. A central groove inscribed completely around each ring pre- serves a black substance probably intended for affix- ing pre-cut inlays to the ring. One ring preserves an impressed zigzag pattern in this bitumen-like material that probably corresponds to the triangular shapes of missing inlay pieces, while the second has impressed

ris 1987) 278-83, 290-94; see also bibliography in D.S. Reese, "Hippopotamus and Elephant Teeth from Kition," Appendix VIII(D) in V. Karageorghis, Excavations at Ki- tion V, Part 2 (Nicosia 1985) 391-98.

53 H.W. Haskell, "Coarse-Ware Stirrup-Jars at Myce- nae," BSA 76 (1981) 225-26.

54 Pulak (supra n. 1) 26, 27 fig. 31.

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

Fig. 23. Beaked jug KW 725. 1:3

alternating rectangles and circles (KW 801: fig. 21; diam. 0.023).

A meter to the south, pithos KW 253 (fig. 2) was chiseled out of the crevice in which it was concreted. Preliminary examination of its sediment revealed no

artifacts or seeds. In the crevice were four Canaanite amphoras, terra-cotta pilgrim flask KW 1084, and metal pilgrim flask KW 1085 (fig. 22; h. ca. 0.18), visually identified as tin, which reminds us of the tin pilgrim flask from 18th-Dynasty Egypt.55 Large rim fragments found here and elsewhere may be from the broken pithos spotted far below the site, at a depth of approximately 58 m, a discovery that brings the num- ber of pithoi on the wreck to seven.

In cleaning for mapping the rows of copper ingots north of the rock outcrop, coarse-ware stirrup jar KW 790, several tin ingot fragments, two pilgrim flasks, and a dozen copper bun ingots were chiseled free. The ingots of the shallower of these rows, stacked 11 deep in places, rest directly on large, unidentified ship timbers. Two stone anchors lying deeper than the lowest coherent rows of ingots, but not as deep as the pair found during the exploratory dives mentioned above, bring the total number of anchors on the wreck to 12.

An isolated find, beaked jug KW 725 (fig. 23; h. 0.26) was chiseled out of a pocket on the eastern side of the large rock outcrop. Jeremy Rutter, who is studying the Mycenaean pottery from the wreck for our final publication, but has seen only preliminary drawings of the jug, finds its shape closer to FS 144 of LH IIIA:1 date than to FS 145 of LH IIIA:2, but sees the decoration as LH IIIA:2 and concludes that the jug dates to the LH IIIA:2 early period,56 contempo- rary with kylix KW 57 found on the wreck in 1984.57

INSTITUTE OF NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS 77843

II. CYLINDER SEALS FROM ULU BURUN

Dominique Collon

Two cylinder seals58 were found in grid square M-1 1, which yielded the four gold pendants described in Part I and the gold Nefertiti scarab discussed in Part III. Seal KW 714 (figs. 24-25; h. 2.8 cm; diam. 1.06-1.10 cm), of quartz var. crystal (rock-crystal), is slightly chipped around the edges. Its perforation (diam. 0.3 cm) is off center. The seal was perforated from each end, but the point where the two perfora-

55 Lucas (supra n. 45) 253. 56 J. Rutter (letters to the authors on 12 December 1986

and 29 September 1987). 57 Bass, AJA 90 (1986) 285, 288 ill. 23; Bass, VII. KST

(supra n. 1) 624, 633 fig. 3.

tions meet is extremely narrow. Strips of gold were wrapped around and flattened over each end to form gold caps. A pink powder residue within the caps, now being analyzed, may indicate that an adhesive was used. When in position the caps, which are 0.7 cm high, overlap the design and add 0.2 cm to the height of the seal and increase the diameter up to 1.4 cm.

The design of KW 714 was executed with a cutting

58 I have not been able to examine these seals myself, but have worked from numerous photographs, a detailed draw- ing of KW 881 (fig. 27) by Anika Liversage, and the excel- lent notes and sketches supplied by Robert Payton for figs. 24 and 26.

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THE BRONZE AGE SHIPWRECK AT ULU BURUN: 1986 CAMPAIGN

Fig. 24. Cylinder seal KW 714. 1:1

wheel and drill. It consists of a procession of three fig- ures approaching a fourth from the left, as depicted on the impression. They stand with one foot forward and a drill hole at the ankle; the other foot is indicated by a short horizontal line just below the angle formed by the back of the skirt. The left arm is bent and held level with the waist, and the right arm hangs down behind. The hands are indicated by drill holes. The figures wear globular headdresses. A drill hole at the nape of the neck indicates the hair which is either worn in a bun or, more probably, is worn shoulder length. All are bearded. Two parallel diagonal lines indicate the upper edge of each of their garments. These garments are draped from their right shoulders and pass under their left arms, and are considerably

shorter in front than at the back. The hemlines are indicated by double diagonal lines. The first figure on the left has two vertical lines on the skirt of his gar- ment, the second has a single line and two short tassels hanging from the hem, while the third has only a single line down his skirt. The last holds a short bow behind him, but the others are empty-handed.

The fourth figure wears a flatter headdress, or pos- sibly a hair band, but his hair style and beard resem- ble those of the other figures. His right arm is bent and held horizontally at waist level; there are two horizon- tal lines across the garment below it. He raises his left hand in greeting. He wears a long garment with one vertical line down the skirt, two horizontal lines across the bottom, and a heavy, slightly angled line indicat- ing the hem. Two short horizontal lines below this represent the feet. Whereas the first three figures are well spaced, the fourth is smaller and looks cramped, although there are no indications that he was inserted later or that any recutting was involved.

Between the figures there are various symbols. From left to right these are an eye-shape set vertically; a cross above a fish or bird; a crescent; a V-shape, set on its side and pointing right, above a diamond-shape. There are line borders round the top and bottom of the seal.

The closest parallel, as regards both subject matter and execution, is a seal in the Chicago Field Muse- um.59 This seal is Kassite, but its inscription is a prayer and cannot be dated. In attempting to establish a more precise date for the Ulu Burun seal we shall have to rely on style of dress and posture as depicted on the few Kassite seals which can be assigned to a specific reign.

Fig. 25. Impression of cylinder seal KW 714. 3:2

59 W.H. Ward, The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia (Washington 1910) 188 no. 531.

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I

{70Xi

h4Ws (^L-4

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G.F. BASS, C. PULAK, D. COLLON, AND J. WEINSTEIN

I 0

Figs. 26, 27. Cylinder seal KW 881.

The posture adopted by the first three figures is that of the "king with a mace" on Old Babylonian seals. This is often, and almost certainly erroneously, thought to be a god, but is probably the king in war- rior dress.60 The posture of the fourth figure goes back to the third millennium B.C. In Old Babylonian times it is that adopted by the king in ceremonial dress.61

Normally deities face left, but in view of the more im-

posing size, headdress and stance of the three advanc-

ing figures and the attitude of worship of the fourth, it seems probable that the first three figures are gods and the fourth is a worshipper, perhaps the king.62

The various symbols in the field may perhaps iden-

tify the gods, but this is by no means certain. The cross

may be an abbreviated star indicating an astral deity,

60 D. Collon, Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum, Cylinder Seals III: Isin/Larsa and Old

Babylonian Periods (London 1986) 35, 100-104. 61 Collon (supra n. 60) 36-38. 62 In a recent, computer-based study of Kassite seals of the

First Group, Donald Matthews of Cambridge University has reached exactly the opposite conclusions and has pro- vided compelling arguments in support of his views. The three advancing figures would therefore be kings and the single figure facing left would be a god. His study further

1:1. I

Ani- 86

Enlarged drawing of impression. 3:1

but crosses at this period may well have been used to depict the sun. The fish, however, would signify the water god. The crescent moon may indicate that the moon god is depicted. The V-shape is probably a fly, used to symbolize courage and victory,63 and its posi- tion next to the god with a bow would support an identification of this figure as a warrior god. The dia- mond and eye-shape are probably the same symbol for which various interpretations have been proposed (ear of wheat, vulva), generally with fertility connotations. These may be placed on either side of the worshipper as good-luck symbols.

On the earliest datable Kassite seal, that of the son of King Karaindash, ca. 1420 B.C., single figures stand in the same posture as the gods on the Ulu Bu-

indicates that the Ulu Burun seal is of provincial manufac- ture and is exceptional in not having an inscription (a fea- ture of virtually every other seal in the First Kassite Group). I am most grateful to him for allowing me to see the draft of his results and for his comments on the Ulu Burun seal.

63 E. Porada, "Problems of Iranian Iconography," The Memorial Volume of the Vth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology, 1 lth-18th April 1986 I (Teheran 1972) 173ff.

14 [AJA 93

4.