ULUBURUN: THE OLDEST SHIPWRECK IN THE WORLD
Named after the place where she was discovered, Turkey’s Cape Uluburun, the Uluburun is the oldest known shipwreck in the world. Her discovery, and the archaeological treasures she yielded, are still rewriting our knowledge of the ancient world.
THE SHIP
The ship was built of cedar using the socalled “spigot technique”, which involves building the outer hull first and adding the underlying “skeleton” (the frames and bars) later.
The Uluburun was certainly built for use in the open sea, which refuted the commonly held idea that Bronze Age sailors kept within sight of the coast.
The Turkish research group, 360, proved this ship was oceangoing in
2005. By using techniques and materials from the late Bronze Age only, the 360 group built an identical replica of the Uluburun and successfully sailed the Mediterranean. • 15 metres long, 5 metres wide, 1.4 metre draft. • 20 tons of cargo capacity
• 1 triangular sail, which provided a maximum speed of two nautical miles per hour, and two rudders for manoeuvrability
THE DISCOVERY AND RESCUE
In 1982, while diving for sponges Mehmet Çakir noticed an “odd structure” at a depth of 45 metres. News of the discovery reached the Turkish archaeologist Cemal Pulak M. At the time, Cemal was an assistant to George F. Bass, the founder and director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) in Texas, USA. Together, the two launched one of archaeology’s most complex excavation projects at the time.
A total of 18,000 artefacts were recovered from the site, some fully preserved and others fragmented. According to INA, every three months of underwater excavation required a further two years of work to restore, research and document the finds. A total of 30 months of underwater work resulted in 20 years of scientific and archaeological reworking. Although the excavation was completed in 1994, the follow-up work still continues today.
On the rocks of Cape Uluburun, only 50 metres from the wreck’s location, the team constructed a mobile village. Living in structures built on stilts, the Turkish–American team of archaeologists experienced a veritable Robinson-Crusoestyle life, far from civilisation.
Over the course of the 10-year operation (1984–1994), archaeologists lived on this windy cliff face for three months a year, miles from the nearest village.
If we measure the value of the ship’s cargo by today’s standards, its sinking would have cost its owners USD300 million. We could imagine a 200-metre freighter loaded with 250 Ferrari 612 Scagliettis, 100 Hasselblad medium-format digital cameras, two or three paintings by Da Vinci, 500 Rolex “Yacht Master” watches, 100 bottles of Mouton Rothschild (1945) and 100 bottles of perfume
“No. 1 – Imperial Majesty Edition” by Clive Christian (which goes for USD184,000 per bottle).
Many of the artefacts found threw up new mysteries and revealed more information about the ancient world. It was assumed that at the time of the sinking of the Uluburun, that pharaoh Nefertiti was already dead. Nevertheless, a golden scarab and several sealed jars were found with her name on them. An unaccredited but persuasive argument suggests that the name of the great pharaoh, even after her death, was still a great force of protection, and therefore her name was used to protect the merchandise.
Similarly, two high-quality swords and ceremonial sticks indicate the presence of at least two high-ranking passengers, possibly a royal emissary?
REWRITING HISTORY
The sailors of the Uluburun were not Mycenaeans, but Canaanites, ancestors of the Phoenician Semithischen. This little-known people developed the first long-distance trade over sea.
“The Uluburun writes the story in a roundabout way,” says Cemal Pulak, field director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) in Texas. “So far, we considered Greece to be the cradle of modern civilisation, the glorious Bronze Age Greeks. Now we have the first evidence of an overwhelming influence from the East.”
Now, 3,300 years after her demise, and 29 years after her discovery, the Uluburun is still a mystery that keeps the world of archaeology in suspense. The artefacts and a full-size replica of the ship are displayed in the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in
Bodrum, Turkey.