Ship from Kyrenia
The Kyrenia Ship is considered to be the best preserved ancient ship in the Levantine Sea . It was discovered in 1965, lifted and restored from 1967. The ship and its cargo are on display in the Shipwreck Museum in the Kyrenia Fortress in Cyprus .
The ship
The original length of the ship is given as 14.75 m and the width as 4.2 m; the corresponding sail area is estimated at 64 m². Wood from the Aleppo pine from Samos or Cyprus was mainly used as building material for the hull and superstructure . There are also small amounts of beech, oak and oleander wood.
The traces found suggest an operational area between Syria and the Dodecanese , including Cyprus and the Anatolian coast. The volcanic rock that served as ballast comes from Kos .
history
The Kyrenia ship sank around 300 BC. It contained about 400 wine amphorae from Rhodes . Coins found in the wreck were dated between 316 and 294 BC. Minted, almonds from the cargo yielded a 14 C date of 212 ± 130 BC. BC, while the ship's hull, which was made of the wood of large old trees, dates from 345 ± 90 BC. Chr. Revealed.
The age of the ship at the time of sinking is between 70 and 300 years. Found spearheads suggest that the ship in a pirate attack sank what the meager findings could explain personal effects of the crew. This probably comprised four men, since the found household items were counted accordingly.
Research history
On November 20, 1965, the sponge diver Andreas Karolou discovered the wreck about a nautical mile east of the port city of Kyrenia off the north coast of Cyprus .
In 1967 a team of divers, archaeologists and other scientists, a total of 54 specialists, under the direction of Michael Katzenv , archaeologist from the University of Pennsylvania , began salvaging the ship. It has been restored and exhibited in Kyrenia Castle.
resonance
In 1985 a replica was launched under the name of Kyrenia II under scientific supervision . In the meantime, another replica has been made under the name Kyrenia Liberty , this time using today's manufacturing techniques.
The ship Kyrenia II was built as part of experimental archeology to gain knowledge of the possibilities of ancient shipbuilding, sailing behavior and seaworthiness. Since 1987, the Kyrenia II has been on display for the next 17 years in the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut , in New York City , in Nara , at Expo 92 in Seville , for the 800th anniversary of the Port of Hamburg and in ten Greek cities. Today this reconstruction is on permanent display in the Thalassa Museum in Cyprus.
The ship became a symbol of the island and proved to be the "floating ambassador" of the Republic of Cyprus . After visiting Japan, another replica was made in Fukuoka , the Kyrenia III .
The Kyrenia ship is depicted on the Cypriot 10, 20 and 50 cent coins .
Web links
- The Shipwreck Museum in Girne Castle
- The Kyrenia Ship Project
- Cyprus News Agency / Maria Koniotou: Kyrenia ship: The legend goes on , March 15, 2004
- Report by Susan Katzenv
- Aegean Dendrochronology Project December 1996 Progress Report: The Hellenistic Kyrenia Shipwreck ( Memento of February 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Footnotes
- ↑ "Ship of Hope"
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 35 ° 20 ′ 31.2 ″ N , 33 ° 19 ′ 19.2 ″ E