Tel Dor

Unlocking the mysteries of Israel's Tel Dor

It's cold. It's silent. It's murky. It's the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and it's the hangout of choice for students of maritime archaeology, seeking clues to the dawn of modern man. Or in the case of participants on Haifa University’s new English MA in Maritime Civilizations, signs of a harbor at the ancient site of Tel Dor.

View of Tel Dor [Credit: nexttriptourism]

The Tel Dor expedition, some 30 kilometers south of Haifa, is a collaboration between Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau and Dr. Ayelet Gilboa of the University of Haifa, and Prof. Ilan Sharon of the Hebrew University. Students of the new English-language program, which started its second year this fall, take part in underwater surveys of Tel Dor mostly in shallow waters but also at depths of up to 10 meters of water.

The documented history of Tel Dor begins in the the 13th century BCE and continues through to the Crusader era. Excavators are seeking evidence of the location of a harbor or harbors at the site that are documented in written sources.

During the Roman and later Crusader periods the harbor seems to have been in the town's northern bay– but earlier, during the Iron Age, and perhaps even in the Bronze Age, it seems to have been located in Tel Dor’s south bay. Researchers still don’t know for sure why the harbor moved.

On most dives, the students found pottery, including bits of storage jars used in maritime transport, says Yasur-Landau, head of the Haifa University Department of Maritime Civilizations. But they also found large stone anchors. These, he says, are clear evidence that boats used to anchor in both bays.

Some of the anchors in the south bay may date to the Iron Age. Others may be even older, dating to the Bronze Age.

In the north bay, the students found pottery dating to the Persian period (ca. 560-333 BCE) alongside the anchors. Evidently the north bay was in use during that period.

The Crusader quay and the geek

Maritime activity in the north Tel Dor bay continued to the Crusader period, says Yasur-Landau: the students found one amphora and some bowls from the Crusader period, which may attest to the location of a Crusader quay.”

Eric Solie presents an amphora found at Tel Dor [Credit: Ehud Arkin and Assaf Yasur-Landau]

Maura Schonwald, 25, from Oklahoma City, one of the five Americans who took part in the pilot, recalls the thrill of finding the anchors. “You are doing these search patterns in the water and all of a sudden you find a corner of something coming out of the sand, and you brush the sand away and it’s something that’s 3,000 years old. You’ve found it, and it's part of history,” she says.

Finding the anchors was one thing. Getting them out of the water was another, says Eric Solie, 23, from Alaska. “When you are picking up these huge rocks with your teammates, it’s a very physically demanding team-oriented experience." Being underwater, they can't talk to them, making the mission all the more difficult."

During the one-year English masters program, taught over three semesters, students learn about the sea through a variety of disciplines – archaeology, marine biology, history, ecology, and geology, among others.

The program is based on an existing Hebrew masters that has been running for 40 years. Similar programs exist in other countries. But Israel's weather is famously balmy and students can step out of the classroom and into the sea all year round, says the professor. Yes, it's chilly in winter but this is the Mediterranean, not the North Sea.

Maritime archaeology isn't for everyone, however, Yasur-Landau qualifies. You need to be a "combination of average garden geek and someone who wants to dive in cold water and look for stone anchors."

With an MA in archaeology from Brandeis under her belt, Catherine Davie, 25 from Little Rock, Arkansas, had been on archaeological digs, but “on land, it's different,” she says: in the sea, "sometimes you can’t even see your fingertips.”

And ultimately, the sea decides. “Underwater, the elements are in charge. If the sea doesn’t want you to succeed, you can’t.”

Author: Alona Ferber | Source: Haaretz [October 14, 2013]

Antico naufragio.

Ancient shipwrecks found off Turkish coast

Work has begun to unearth and exhibit ship remains from different eras that were discovered during an underwater excavation in the ancient town of Limantepe (Greek Klazomenai) on Turkey’s western coast.

Remains of a vessel dating from the seventh-century B.C.
[Credit: AA]

It has been 13 years since the underwater excavations started in Limantepe, a site that attracted the interest of researchers when they could not initially identify areas in the sea on aerial photographs of the İskele neighborhood in the district of Urla.

Twenty underwater archaeologists are taking part in the
excavations in Limantepe [Credit: AA]

Twenty underwater archaeologists, under the direction of Professor Hayat Erkanal, are taking part in the excavations in Limantepe, the site of a prehistoric settlement which witnessed humanity’s passage from being hunter-gatherers to farmers. 

The team has discovered many ship remains from different eras and items
that came out of these ships, which have been desalinated in a 
laboratory in preparation for exhibition [Credit: AA]

Klazomenai or Clazomenae was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia and a member of the Ionian League. It is thought that an earthquake or other cataclysmic event that took place in the sixth-century B.C. submerged the port.

The unearthed items have to be desalinated before they could be exhibited, 
otherwise items could break to pieces [Credit: AA]

The excavations, coordinated by the Ankara University Underwater Research and Application Center (ANKÜSAM), are continuing on the base of the port that dates back to the seventh-century B.C. Erkanal has reported that they discovered many ship remains from different eras and items that came out of these ships, which have been desalinated in a laboratory in preparation for exhibition. 

Greek perfume vase in the form of a head of a helmeted
warrior [Credit: AA]

The harbour of ancient Klazomenai encompasses a vast region underwater, meaning excavations are likely to continue in the upcoming years, said Erkanal.

Of the many ship remains found, a vessel from the seventh-century B.C. and an 18th-century Ottoman warship were taken into complete preservation underwater, according to Erkanal. Another ship was also discovered by fishermen 400 meters from the excavation site at a depth of 17 meters.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [August 22, 2013]

Commercio Marittimo Antico

Maritime trade thrived in Egypt 

before Alexandria

New research into Thonis-Heracleion, a sunken port-city that served as the gateway to Egypt in the first millennium BC, is being examined at an international conference at the University of Oxford. The port city, situated 6.5 kilometres off today’s coastline, was one of the biggest commercial hubs in the Mediterranean before the founding of Alexandria

Excavation of shipwreck 43, a vessel found in the northern section of the CentralHarbour of Heracleion-Thonis [Credit: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation]

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford is collaborating on the project with the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) in cooperation with Egypt's Ministry of State for Antiquities.

This obligatory port of entry, known as ‘Thonis’ by the Egyptians and ‘Heracleion’ by the Greeks, was where seagoing ships are thought to have unloaded their cargoes to have them assessed by temple officials and taxes extracted before transferring them to Egyptian ships that went upriver. In the ports of the city, divers and researchers are currently examining 64 Egyptian ships, dating between the eighth and second centuries BC, many of which appear to have been deliberately sunk. Researchers say the ships were found beautifully preserved,  in the mud of the sea-bed. With 700 examples of different types of ancient anchor, the researchers believe this represents the largest nautical collection from the ancient world.

An archaeologist measures the feet of a colossal red granite statue at the site of Heracleion discovered in Aboukir Bay.[Credit: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation]

‘The survey has revealed an enormous submerged landscape with the remains of at least two major ancient settlements within a part of the Nile delta that was crisscrossed with natural and artificial waterways,’ said Dr Damian Robinson, Director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford. Dr Robinson, who is overseeing the excavation of one of the submerged ships known as Ship 43, has discovered that the Egyptians had a unique shipbuilding style. He is also examining why the boats appear to have been deliberately sunk close to the port.

‘One of the key questions is why several ship graveyards were created about one mile from the mouth of the River Nile. Ship 43 appears to be part of a large cluster of at least ten other vessels in a large ship graveyard,’ explained Dr Robinson. ‘This might not have been simple abandonment, but a means of blocking enemy ships from gaining entrance to the port-city. Seductive as this interpretation is, however, we must also consider whether these boats were sunk simply to use them for land reclamation purposes.’ 

Bronze statuette of pharaoh of the 26th dynasty, found at the temple of Amon area at Heracleion. The sovereign wears the “blue crown” (probably the crown of the accession). His dress is extremely simple and classical: the bare-chested king wears the traditional shendjyt kilt or loincloth. [Credit: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation]

The port and its harbour basins also contain a collection of customs decrees, trading weights, and evidence of coin production. The material culture, for example, coin weights, will also be discussed at the conference, placing this into the wider narrative of how maritime trade worked in the ancient world.

Elsbeth van der Wilt, from the University of Oxford, said: ‘Thonis-Heracleion played an important role in the network of long-distance trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, since the city would have been the first stop for foreign merchants at the Egyptian border. Excavations in the harbour basins yielded an interesting group of lead weights, likely to have been used by both temple officials and merchants in the payment of taxes and the purchasing of goods. Amongst these are an important group of Athenian weights. They are a significant archaeological find because it is the first time that weights like these have been identified during excavations in Egypt.’

Franck Goddio with a stele found on Heracleion's sea-bed and mentioning the city's namein Greek and Egyptian [Credit: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation]

Another Oxford researcher, Sanda Heinz, is analysing more than 300 statuettes and amulets from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, including Egyptian and Greek subjects. The majority depict Egyptian deities such as Osiris, Isis, and their son Horus. ‘The statuettes and amulets are generally in excellent condition,’ she said. ‘The statuettes allow us to examine their belief system and at the same time have wider economic implications. These figures were mass-produced at a scale hitherto unmatched in previous periods. Our findings suggest they were made primarily for Egyptians; however, there is evidence to show that some foreigners also bought them and dedicated them in temples abroad.’

Franck Goddio, Director of the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology and Visiting Senior Lecturer in Maritime Archaeology at the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology, commented: ‘The discoveries we have made in Thonis-Heracleion since 2000 thanks to the work of a multidisciplinary team and the support of the Hilti Foundation are encouraging. Charts of the city’s monuments, ports and channels are taking shape more clearly and further crucial information is gathered each year.’

Source: The University of Oxford [March 25,  2013]

ANTIKYTHERA, once more

Return to Antikythera: 

what divers discovered in the deep

Divers returning to the site of an ancient wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera have found artefacts scattered over a wide area of the steep, rocky sea floor. These include intact pottery, the ship's anchor and some puzzling bronze objects. 

The team believes that hundreds more items could be buried in the sediment nearby.

Divers recover an amphora from the site of the Roman Antikythera shipwreck in Greece [Credit: Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities/WHOI]

The Antikythera wreck, which dates from the first century BC, yielded a glittering haul when sponge divers discovered it at the beginning of the 20th century. Among jewellery, weapons and statues were the remains of a mysterious clockwork device, dubbed the Antikythera mechanism.

Bar a brief visit by the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s (featured in his documentary Diving for Roman Plunder), no one had visited the wreck since, leading to speculation about what treasures might still be down there. The locals told tales of giant marble statues lying beyond the sponge divers' reach, while ancient technology geeks like me wondered whether the site might be hiding another Antikythera mechanism, or at least some clues as to whom this mysterious object belonged to.

Cue all-round excitement when in October last year, a team of divers led by Brendan Foley of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Aggeliki Simossi of Greece's Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, went back for a proper look. The divers used James Bond-style propulsion vehicles equipped with high-resolution video cameras to circumnavigate the island at about 40 metres depth. Now the photos released by the team show some of what they found.

For centuries Antikythera was in a busy shipping lane, but surprisingly its treacherous underwater cliffs and reefs are not littered with sunken ships (perhaps those ancient navigators were more skilled than we thought). And there are no obvious signs of a wreck at the site supposedly excavated by Cousteau, suggesting that he recovered all of the visible items there – or that he planted some of his finds for the cameras.

But 200 metres away, the divers found artefacts spread across the rocky sea floor, on a steep slope between 35 and 60 metres deep.

The largest item recovered was a huge lead anchor stock. It was lying on a semicircular object that might be a scupper pipe, used to drain water from the ship's deck. If so, the ship may have gone down as she was sailing with the anchor stowed. The team also raised an intact storage jar (amphora), which matches those previously recovered from the wreck. DNA tests may reveal its original contents.

Most intriguing are dozens of irregular spherical objects sprinkled across the wreck site. They look like rocks but contain flecks of green, suggesting small bronze fragments, corroded and encrusted in sediment after thousands of years in the sea. This is just what the Antikythera mechanism looked like when it was discovered. Then again, they could be collections of ship's nails.

Because the artefacts the team found are a short distance from the site investigated by Cousteau, it's possible that they belong to a second ship from around the same date as the original wreck, perhaps part of the same fleet. But Foley thinks it more likely that all of the remains come from one vessel that broke up as it sank.

To confirm this, he hopes to revisit the site later this year. He wants to use metal detectors to map the distribution of metal and ceramic objects buried beneath the surface, as well as dig a few test trenches. "I'm intensely curious about what's in the sediments," he says.

Cousteau only excavated a few square metres of the site but that was enough to reveal more than two hundred items, including jewellery, coins and small bronze statues. But while previous visits to the wreck have been little more than salvage expeditions, Foley says he'd love to carry out a systematic, scientific excavation of the wreck site, if he can find anyone to sponsor him: "As soon as we have the money we'll be back."

See also: Antikythera shipwreck: treasures from the deep – 

in pictures

See Also: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zEOeflnPKY&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr978iVStc4 

(thanks to Sisaia for the contribution).

Author: Jo Marchant | Source: The Guardian [March 18, 2013]