Why were these containers made that way? Wouldn’t a flat base help avoid an extra stand? Or does it have something to do with collecting sediments at the pointed bottom?
I wondered the same thing.
Here's a link to the NYT about them:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EFDB1E3FF937A2575BC0A9679C8B63
Relevant quote:
". In fact, the long, pointed bottom of the typical amphora gave it an excellent shape for stacking against a ship's hull, according to Dr. Shelley Wachsmann, a nautical and biblical archaeologist at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University.
''If you visualize three or four amphorae next to each other with the sides touching, there is a hole in the middle where the circles meet,'' he explained. ''If they are stacked in layers, an amphora in the next layer would rest in that hole.'' "
Ah... that makes sense. I’ve wondered about the same thing too.
It would also lock the whole stack together, and individual jars wouldn’t knock around when the ship rolls back and forth either. I don’t know, but it would’ve been natural then that the bottom of the hold should have some sort of rack that the first layer fits into. Neat.