Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck

Türkiye · Antalya

ShipwreckExcavation completed
Approximate period1,200 BCE — 1,200 BCELate Bronze Age; approximate sinking date See on the map ↓

In brief

The merchant ship, which sank around 1200 BC, carried metals used in bronze production and tools intended for recycling. The 1960 excavation was among the pioneering underwater archaeological projects completed on the seabed using the standards of land excavation.

What was found?

  • 1Copper ingots

    These are among the raw materials used in bronze production carried in the ship's cargo. They directly document the transport of metal by sea.

  • 2Tin ingots

    Carried together with copper, tin is the other essential raw material for making bronze. It demonstrates the cargo's connection with metal production.

  • 3Scrap bronze tools

    These are bronze tools of Cypriot origin transported for remelting. They show that used metal was reintroduced into production.

  • 4Stone working tools

    Stone hammerheads, polishing stones, and a whetstone were found. According to researchers, this toolkit suggests that a metalworker may have been aboard during the voyage.

What does it point to?

The wreck's cargo shows that trade in metal raw materials and recycling were combined on the same sea voyage. According to researchers, the working tools indicate that the ship may also have carried a metalworker.

What did it teach us?

  1. Documented the transport together of copper, tin, and bronze tools intended for remelting.
  2. Provided concrete evidence of the role of metal recycling in Late Bronze Age maritime trade.
  3. The 1960 excavation became the first shipwreck excavation completed on the seabed to terrestrial excavation standards and directed by a diving archaeologist.

Record

Culture
Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade
First modern dig
1960
Team / historical
George F. Bass / Pennsylvania Üniversitesi
Coordinates
36.1833°, 30.4000°

Sources

  1. nauticalarch.org
  2. oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk
  3. antalya.ktb.gov.tr
  4. Antalya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü — Sualtı dalış alanları

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