Deep Sea Bronze Age Shipwreck Found

About 56 miles off the coast of northern Israel, an energy company located the first-ever deep sea Bronze Age shipwreck. The two most famous, previously discovered Bronze Age shipwrecks went down in shallow waters. Both of those lie off the coast of southern Turkey, one at Cape Gelidonya (excavated 1960) and another at Uluburun (excavated 1984-1994). You may read my detailed post about Uluburun for more about this richest of finds. (The photo up top is of a model of the Uluburun ship, and probably not far from what this most recent find might have looked like. Photo by Martin Bahmann, Wiki.)

Why deep sea shipwreck is amazing

Any Late Bronze Age shipwreck is a rarity that can add to our understanding of this highly connected, trade-rich period. This new find is great news. But what makes this one intrinsically even more remarkable is the deep sea part.

Before gaining any more information from the shipwreck itself, scholars learned something radical from its existence far out of sight of land. With only the horizon in view on the sea above it, this shipwreck changes our understanding of Bronze Age navigation and trade routes. Scholars thought ships of this period always hugged the shore. They based their suppositions about trade routes on this premise. However, this ship didn’t stay close to land. That creates a somewhat mind-blowing set of possibilities as to what ports it might have moved between and raises questions about navigation techniques.

The contents of the deep sea Bronze Age shipwreck

Then, of course, there’s also the contents of the shipwreck and what they could tell us. Because it’s in deep water, wave action, storms, and human activity have not disturbed the wreck. Silt has buried it to such an extent that the camera revealed no visible hull. That will have offered more protection. I find it counterintuitive, not being a scientifically-thinking person, that seawater preserves better than most land environments, but in the right circumstances it does. For example, the Uluburun wreck contained wooden writing tablets that we only knew about from written references. There they were in solid form amid the shipwreckage. So someday, with luck, when this site is fully excavated, there will be some amazing surprises.

But that someday won’t be anytime soon. Apparently, the costs and challenges of deep sea archaeology are prohibitive. For now, the Israel Antiquities Authority will preserve the site for a time when better technology can do the job without risking destroying it.

What we know so far

For now, researchers gathered two sources of information. The energy company provided a remotely operated vehicle for studying the shipwreck. It took detailed video footage. They built a special arm on it that plucked out two amphorae and brought them to the surface. They could see these ceramic storage containers clearly enough to remove two without causing damage. Because the shapes of these universally used jars differ over time and place in highly predictable and well-documented ways, these jars provide solid dating information. The makeup of the clay they are fabricated from will show where they originated. They can also determine the contents with precision.

Further Reading about the deep sea Bronze Age shipwreck

The story of how they extricated these jars and took the video footage is fascinating. I recommend reading one or both of these excellent articles about this find, one in the New York Times, “Ancient Shipwreck Preserves a Deep Bronze Age Time Capsule” and the other in Scientific American, “Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Is a ‘Time Capsule’ from the Bronze Age.” The articles cover the overall context of this find and what it means to historical understanding. I also enjoyed the details about the process of the energy company’s survey and sonar study of the sea floor that uncovered this site. That’s not the only thing they found!