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3,600-yr-old Shipwreck Uncovered Could be Oldest Ever Found in the Mediterranean [Antalya, Turkey]
The Vintage News ^ | April 20, 2019 | Helen Flatley

Posted on 05/17/2019 10:59:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

A team of marine archaeologists has uncovered a 3,600-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Antalya, Turkey. The ship, believed to have been a merchant vessel sailing from Cyprus, may be the oldest ever discovered, according to Haaretz...

Based on its position and the large cargo of copper ingots found inside and around the wreck, it is likely to have been a trading ship, ferrying goods from Cyprus to the Aegean region.

Although the ship is in very poor condition, and the hull has been almost completely destroyed, the bulk of the ship, together with its precious cargo, has survived, making this a remarkable and extremely rare find...

...the team discovered 73 copper ingots inside the wreck. Weighing around 1.5 tons, this immense supply of copper was shaped into "pillow-like" ingots, characteristic of the late Bronze Age. The shape of the ingots allowed Öniz to date the wreckage to before 1400 BC, as from this point onwards, copper was transported as "ox-hide" ingots with a peculiar and distinctive shape...

Copper was an extremely important and valuable commodity in the Late Bronze Age, and Öniz speculates that the ship could have been travelling to one of a number of destinations in the eastern Mediterranean, including Mycenae, Troy, or other important settlements where copper was in high demand for use in weapons manufacture...

Other shipwrecks discovered off the coast of Turkey dating to the Late Bronze Age have also been found carrying large amounts of copper, and isotope analysis has shown that it was usually mined on the island of Cyprus...

The analysis showed that more cargo and part of the ship are buried beneath the seabed, which lies around 50 meters (165 feet) below sea level.

(Excerpt) Read more at thevintagenews.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: 18thdynasty; 19thdynasty; 26thdynasty; ancientnavigation; antalya; bronzeage; capegelidonya; caphtor; copper; cyprus; elidonya; enkomi; gavinmenzies; gelidonya; godsgravesglyphs; history; keftiu; minoans; mycenaeans; navigation; oxhideingots; phoenicians; turkey; uluburun; uluburunii
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To: trisham; M Kehoe; morphing libertarian
Thanks!

41 posted on 05/18/2019 11:25:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Grimmy
They need to change their name to "Last Peoples". :^)

42 posted on 05/18/2019 11:25:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Nicely related topic, and, I'm getting in a plug for myself, AND, I'm not sorry. ;^)

43 posted on 05/18/2019 11:33:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: PIF
For later -- I haven't read it yet, but am struck by the fact that this paper is from 2015 -- no one bothered to do a study of this kind before then? Hard to believe.

44 posted on 05/18/2019 11:51:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

A very quick read through seems to indicate that the authors do not or did not consider copper from the UP (Upper Peninsula) ... perhaps they did not have a UP sample or just believed that could not match any European area artifact ... this would possibility indicate consensus thinking - as ‘everybody knows that copper artifacts across the Atlantic could not possibility have a UP origin’.

They even indicate that some of the artifacts don’t seem to completely match the sample base ...


45 posted on 05/18/2019 12:10:02 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: PIF; Larry Lucido; SaveFerris
I believe it is published by Pendant Publishing.


46 posted on 05/18/2019 4:31:00 PM PDT by Gamecock (In church today, we so often find we meet only the same old world, not Christ and His Kingdom. AS)
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To: SunkenCiv

That much copper must have been a huge loss in the day. It would be interesting to know what the terms of sale provided as to who owned the risk when the goods were in transit. Wonder if there was any kind of exchange where participants could lay off shipping losses on a group? Leonidas of Knossos?


47 posted on 05/22/2019 5:30:52 AM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker
There were underwriters on both ends, but the captain and crew took the real risks. As long as they got where they were going and got the money, they were okay. Otherwise, the ship went down, they'd probably be dead.

48 posted on 05/22/2019 12:18:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Still one of *those* topics.



49 posted on 10/25/2020 6:10:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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50 posted on 10/25/2020 6:10:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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