Seagoing Ships Of The Bronze Age Levant

"Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant"

The first half of this book basically breaks down the various Bronze Age civilizations and their nautical presence. He backs up his information by spelling out the textual, archaeological and iconographic evidence that supports the belief behind their nautical presence. The second half of this book discusses the nautical technology of the Bronze Age such as ship construction, navigation, etcÐ'...

Since the Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River it is no surprise that they used ships. It is believed that primitive river craft made of papyrus existed as far back as the Paleolithic era. The earliest textual evidence is found engraved in Palermo stone and it tells of the importation of wood by Sneferu. During the twelfth dynasty an inscription from Saqqara tells of ships filled will soldiers attacking the Syro-Canaanite coast. There has only been a couple of archeological clues found. An axehead was found in 1911 with the inscription of "The Boat Crew" engraved on the side of the blade. It is believed that the axehead belonged to one of the crews that sailed back and forth from Lebanon transporting wood. Many Egyptian style anchors have also been found in temples at Babylos and Ugarit. The first iconographic depiction of Egyptian seagoing ships is found in a relief from Sahure's burial chamber in Abusir from the old kingdom. Iconagraphic evidence shows us that the ships were crescent shaped with the

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mast placed amidship. Stays extend daigonally from the mast to the bow and stern. Two oars are depicted protruding from beneath the hull. The most detailed description of seagoing ships was found in Hatsheppsut's tomb at Deir el Bahri, it depicts a military expedition to Punt.

The Syro-Canaanite's were very active sea traders in the late Bronze Age. The earliest known Syro-Canaanite reference to ships is found in Kamose's description of capturing Hyskos ships full of very valuable cargo. These ships were owned and constructed by Syro-Canaanites. References to trade along the Syro-Canaanite coast are found in documents from Ugrarit. These documents also tell of a fleet as large as 150 strong for Ugrarit's invasion of Mugisse. The iconoagraphic evidence tells us the most about the design of these ships. The hulls are shown to be cresent shaped and there was no decoration on the stem and sternposts. Both single and double rudders protruded from the quarters and steering oars were fixed on the stanchions. A high screen ran from bow to stern. The yards have downward curving stems and there were crows nests on the masts. These ships were almost identical to those of the Egyptians.

The textual evidence supporting maritime activity is Cyprus depends largely on whether Alashia is the ancient name for the island. Their have been many texts and letters found that show correspondence between Cyprus and Egypt which suggests that there was maritime trading between the two. One of the texts refers to a trader named Abiramu who had received 660 units of oil. The only archaeological evidence that exists is that of a Cypriot anchor found in the temple of Amun at Karnak. The iconagraphic

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evidence consists mostly of terra-cotta models of Cypriot ships. There has however been one Cypriot vase found in Vounous that depicts a ship. The models depict a deep bowl shaped hull with a flat base. There are many differing depictions of ships but the most prominent is that of a bowl shaped hull.

Due to its many islands and rough topography the Aegean culture had to develop seafaring skills very early on. The earliest evidence of seafaring vessels has been found on flakes of obsidian in the Franchthi Cave logated in the southern Argolid. There are two main designs found for Aegean ships. The first is a seagoing longship the other is a fairly small vessel with a cutwater bow and stern almost teardrop in shape. The evidence of the longships have been found as lead models from Naxos. It is thought due to the many different shapes and sizes of longships depicted by the lead models found that there might have been different classes of longships for different purposes. It is also thought due to the similarities in shape that these ships descended from monoxylon culture. Scholars believe that these longships were used primarily for war and were not used for merchant type missions. Because there was little inboard room for oars it is believed that ships were paddled. Also the long narrow hull seems suitable only for row after row of soldiers and not bulky cargo.

The earliest evidence of Minoan/Cycladic sea trade is found in a tin inventory from Mari. Even though this evidence is textual most of the evidence found today depicting the maritime history of the Minoan/Cycladics is iconographic. The ships depicted in these Friezes show crescent shaped ships that are extremely decorated and look as if they are apart of some sort of race or procession. Clay models found in

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sarcophaguses tell us that these ships had a rounded stern and a pointed bow. The mast is placed closer to the bow than usual and there are hatches at the bow and stern that tells us that the ship had multiple decks. The ships were propelled by square sails, which are common of the Bronze Age, and they were also rowed by a large number of rowers. In many of these depictions there is a man standing in front of the helmsman with his arms in a strange position. It is believed that this man was the keleustes who set the rhythm of the rowers. Almost all of these ships are depicted in some sort of procession or race with dead naked bodies floating in the water below. This either means that Minoan/Cycladics performed human sacrifice or they were being depicted in some sort of battle. The maritime history of these two cultures in not all that clear, however the one major theme seen is that of some sort religious belief that has to do with these ships and the sea.

Evidence of Mycenaean/Archaean seagoing ships show up around the sixteenth century B.C. In comparison to all the cultures discussed so far the Mycenaean/Archaeans have the most information available

about there maritime activity. Even though it is difficult to translate there is also an abundance of textual evidence available

which alone sets this culture apart from the others. The textual evidence shows a civilization at war with many of its neighboring countries. The ships depicted look almost as if they were floating castles. The most prominent feature shown on all these