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Peter Throckmorton stayed for two years with the Bodrum sponge fishers in the hope of discovering the ship laden with bronze that had been observed by Captain Aras off Gelidonya Point near Antalya.
Exploration was begun in 1959 and was rewarded by the discovery of a heap of bronze ingots in the form of ox-hides, on the strength of which the wreck that contained them could immediately be dated to the Bronze Age.
Throckmorton drew the attention of the University of Pennsylvania Museum to the find, and in 1960 George F. Bass, an expert on the Mycenean Age, was given permission to carry out excavations on the wreck. Thus began the first official underwater excavation in Turkey.
Fragment of a straw mat, after 3300 years underwater
A diving crew was set up and trained with the help of Frederic Dumas, one of the experts from the Cousteau team, and the expedition set out for Gelidonya Point in a sponge-fisher's boat. The wreck, however, had become so clamped to the rocks that it was impossible to move it, and sections could only be removed by hacking them off with a chisel.
In any case very little of the wooden hull had survived, but fragments of the shell were found nailed to the hull in exactly the same way as described in the Odyssey. In addition to the ingots there were large quantities of bronze hammers, spades, needles, knives and other implements, which indicates that this was a merchant ship, while the fact that the bronze comes from Cyprus would suggest that the ship was on its way from this country. The existence of moulds, together with copper ore and tin, shows that the bronze was being made on board during the voyage.
The finds discovered indicate a date in the 13th century B.C., which means that this is the earliest boat so far excavated. The objects found in it formed the basis of the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Bodrum. |
