Maʿagan Micha'el (ship)
Coordinates: 32 ° 33 ′ 20.9 ″ N , 34 ° 54 ′ 7.9 ″ E
As Maʿagan Micha'el , the wreck of a historic ship from the 5th century BC is reported. Chr. In Israel referred. The well-preserved hull was found in 1985 off the coast near the Maʿagan Micha'el kibbutz . The name was chosen after the place where it was found (Hebrew: מעגן מיכאל = Maʿagan Micha'el).
history
In the fall of 1985, the wreck was discovered by a resident of the kibbutz while fishing. The wreck was sighted around 35 km south of Haifa , 75 meters off the coast of Kibbutz Maʿagan Micha'el (see map). The fisherman found pieces of wood and ceramic shards between two cliffs and notified the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Center for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa , which subsequently took over the recovery of the object and the artifacts . The recovery was very difficult due to the sand that kept sliding down and took a total of 160 days. The archaeologist Elisha Linder led the excavation .
The wreck was recovered and placed in a conservation basin at the University of Haifa, where it was prepared through a long-term process of impregnation with heated polyethylene glycol (PEG). The preserved hull is 37 feet (11.25 meters) long and 13.1 feet (4 meters) wide. The ship is estimated to have a displacement of 20 tons. The ship's ballast in the keel was around 12 tons. The keel was made from a single log and is 25 feet (8.5 meters) long, 4.5 inches (11 cm) wide and 6.25 inches (16 cm) high. The hull was made primarily from Aleppo pine with the exception of the tenons and keel, which were made from oak . The planks are attached with copper nails.
The wood showed no signs of damage from the so-called shipworm or mussel growth, nor were there any signs of wear and tear from the use at the time, which led the researchers to assume that the ship sank on its maiden voyage or not long afterwards. The jugs, plates, lamps and several storage vessels found near the trunk are partly decorated like the amphorae . Most of the artifacts have been ascribed to Cyprus and Greece ; however, some also suggest that they may have originated on the Palestinian coast.
The anchor, which was also recovered, is also made of oak; it is clad with lead ballast on the lower part and had a copper tip. Since the wood of the boat hull is identical to the anchor wood, the researchers assume that these parts were made by the same carpenters.
In 1999 the hull fragments were put back together and exhibited together with the anchor in the archaeological Hecht Museum . The ship gives the researchers an insight into the ancient methods of shipbuilding and the historical development of anchors.
literature
- Elisha Linder: Excavating an Ancient Merchantman 1992 , Journal Biblical Archeology Review Biblical, Ed. Archeology Society, pp. 24-35.
- Jerry Dean: The Pottery from a Fifth Century BC Shipwreck at Ma'agan Michael, Israel .
- Jay P. Rosloff: A one-armed anchor of c. 400 BCE from the Ma'agan Michael vessel, Israel. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeolog pp. 223-226.
- S. Shalev, Y. Kahanov and C. Doherty: Nails from a 2,400 year old shipwreck: A study of copper in a marine archaeological environment , Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, Springer Boston, ISSN 1047-4838 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ma'agan Mikha'el Shipwreck , Israel Antiquities Authority