Ursula-Kuhlmann-Fonds im Marburger Universitätsbund
On Sea and Ocean: New Research in Phoenician Seafaring
Symposion Marburg, Archäologisches Seminar
23-25 June 2011
ABSTRACTS
Selma Abdelhamid, M.A.
Graduate Research Group Value and Equivalence
Goethe-Universität, Campus Westend
Grüneburgplatz 1, Fach 136
60629 Frankfurt am Main
Email: [email protected]
Phoenician Shipwrecks of the 8th – 6th c. B. C. – Overview and Interim Conclusions
The presentation gives an overview of the six known Phoenician shipwrecks of the 8th- 6th c.
B.C., i.e. vessels navigating during a crucial period of the construction of the Mediterranean, in
which were established major Phoenician settlements and commercial activities in the West.
These ships differ in terms of size, cargo, route and related economic background, but they
nevertheless illustrate the multiple levels of Phoenician seafaring, which cannot be considered as
a simple and single matter, but rather as a multiplicity of small and large exchange networks.
-----Dott. Baldassarre Giardina-Archemilia S.A.S. Di Baldassarre Giardina & C.
ARCHAEOLOGER-ARCHEOLOGO
Via Sorbelli, 10 40124 Bologna
Email: [email protected]
FARI FENICI E PUNICI: FONTI ED EVIDENZE ARCHEOLOGICHEPHOENIZISCHE UND PUNISCHE LEUCHTTUERME: LITERARISCHE UND
ARCHAEOLOGISCHE QUELLEN
Sappiamo bene che i Fenici, espertissimi nell'antica arte della navigazione, erano in grado di
orientarsi di notte grazie all'osservazione dell'Orsa Maggiore. Era tuttavia l'unico metodo di cui
disponevano per evitare di incappare in rotte sbagliate oppure già tre secoli prima della creazione
del celeberrimo faro di Alessandria, i Fenici avevano già inventato qualcosa di simile? Come mai
non ne abbiamo notizie nei peripli di Annone e Imicone nè viene citato nulla di simile nel viaggio
di Pitea di Marsiglia, la cui nave, come noto, era guidata da un ammiraglio fenicio? siamo sicuri
che non esista nessuna evidenza archeologica a riguardo? Andando a controllare bene tutte le
fonti scritte, iconografiche ed archeologiche in nostro possesso credo si possa affermare che delle
torri-faro o meglio delle specole siano esistite già durante l'epoca fenicia e abbiano avuto al loro
definitiva consacrazione in età punica come testimoniava, prima della sua distruzione, la torre
faro che campeggiava sull'altura del Coltellazzo presso Nora in Sardegna.
-----Jill Bierly
Graduate Student
Anthropology Department, 215 Machmer Hall
University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, 01003 USA
Email: [email protected]
Strategic Pairs: Phoenician Economic Tactics in Ancient Cyprus
This paper investigates the strategy of Phoenician colonization in Cyprus through their conquest
of the ancient city kingdom of Idalion in the 5th century BCE. Proving their mastery over the
intricacies of Mediterranean trade, the Phoenicians took control of two key ports and two key
production centers on the island. Through ceramic analysis of distribution patterning my research
has shed new light on the social processes that connect Idalion to other Phoenician pairings of
trade and production hubs beyond the island of Cyprus.
-----Maria Luísa Pinheiro Blot
Archaeologist
Email: [email protected]
Ancient environmental contexts and Phoenician maritime shelters in the southwestern
part of the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal
Our investigation focuses on harbor functions and the emergence of urban centers along the
Atlantic façade of SW Iberian Peninsula. Phoenician/Punic archaeological evidence in Portugal
brings to light the specificity of ancient harbor activities along an oceanic coast with major tide
amplitude. Nautical conditions in main estuaries and in lower fluvial water bodies and respective
geomorphological paleo-shapes help to understand how Mediterranean contacts adapted to this
oceanic environment during the late Iron Age.
-----Carla Del Vais and Iganzio Sanna
Carla Del Vais
PhD Doctor
Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche e Storico Artistiche
Piazza Arsenale 1 – 09124 Cagliari
Email: [email protected]
Iganzio Sanna
Archaeological diver
Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per le province di Cagliari e Oristano, Piazza
Indipendenza 7 – 09124 Cagliari
Email: [email protected]
Fenici e Punici nella Sardegna centro-meridionale: scoperte e scavi subacquei a Cagliari,
Nora e S. Giusta (OR)
Importanti scoperte sono derivate da indagini subacquee realizzate con metodi innovativi, in
ambiti marini, portuali e lagunari. Sono emersi nuovi dati sul trasporto marino e sugli scambi tra i
centri fenicio-punici della Sardegna centro-meridionale e quelli mediterranei. Sono di particolare
interesse un carico dell’VIII-VII a.C. a Nora, anche con anfore tipo T-10.1.1.1.; un contesto assai
esteso, databile tra VII e III a.C., nella Laguna di Santa Giusta (Othoca) (coroplastica, legni,
ceramica e anfore contenenti carni macellate e frutta); altre anfore di IV e III sec. a.C.,
coroplastica e ceramica nel porto e nel Golfo di Cagliari.
(Important discoveries are derived from underwater surveys carried out in innovative ways, in
areas of the sea, harbor and lagoon. New data have emerged on the marine transportation and
trade between the centers of Phoenician-Punic Sardinia south-central and Mediterranean. Of
particular interest is a load of the VIII-VII BC Nora, with amphorae T-10.1.1.1., a context which
is highly prevalent, dating from BC III and VII, in the Lagoon in Santa Right (Othoca)
(terracotta, wood, pottery and amphorae containing butcher's meat and fruits), other amphorae
IV and III century. BC, terracotta and ceramic in the harbor and the Gulf of Cagliari.)
----Zaraza Friedman
Independent Scholar
4 A PUA Street, Ap. 10
Haifa 35311 Israel
E-mail: [email protected]
The Phoenician hippos figurehead preserved tradition and the type of vessels
The Phoenicians were called the "rulers of the sea" (Ezekiel 26:16). They were experienced
seamen and merchants, and the masters of the Mediterranean Sea from the 9th to at least the 3rd
centuries BCE (until the First Punic War, 250 BCE). This paper will bring into discussion the
Phoenician hippos vessels with the preserved figurehead's tradition and their specific types:
· Hippoi river vessels on the bronze reliefs of the Tel Balawat Gates (850 BCE)
· The hippoi seagoing vessels transporting wooden logs from the wall reliefs of the
Palace of Sargon II, at Khorsabad (722 – 705 BCE)
· The hippos warship from Karatepe, Asia Minor (c.700 BCE)
· The hippos vessel on a carnelian seal from Sidon, now in the National Maritime
Museum in Haifa, Israel (c. 300 BCE)
· The hippos thalamegos depicted in the Palestrina Nile mosaic., Italy (late 2nd century
BCE)
· The hippos Neumagen Monument, Germany (3rd century CE)
· The Mazarron Phoenician wrecks, Spain (7th – 6th century BCE)
· The Ashkelon Tanit and Elissa wrecks, Israel (750 – 700 BCE)
· Ma'agan Mikhael wreck, Israel (400 BCE)
· What types of vessels are indicated by the hippos figurehead?
------
Mario Galasso and Tiziana Fisichella
Via Enrico Costa 26
07041 ALGHERO (Sassari) Italia
email: [email protected]
Testa scolpita in trachite da Porto Conte – Sant’Imbenia, Alghero(SS)
Si pone all’attenzione della comunità scientifica una piccola testa scolpita in trachite e coperta di
concrezioni marine recentemente rinvenuta sulla riva del mare in prossimità degli scavi del
villaggio nuragico di Sant’Imbenia che ha restituito materiale fenicio a prova di consolidati scambi
commerciali fra questo emporio e il mediterraneo orientale fino al VI secolo a.C. Non si conosce
al momento l’origine della scultura, che presenta un foro impervio alla base per essere
presumibilmente fissata su di un supporto. A causa di costante ingressione marina nella zona e
data la scoperta circa 10 anni fa di due o tre resti di capanne a -2 metri s.l.m. non è ancora
possibile chiarire se la testina fosse in origine a bordo di una imbarcazione oppure in una capanna
nuragica. Per la mancanza di confronti con sculture locali e per l’assenza in zona di trachite si
ipotizza la provenienza da altra zona del Mediterraneo sotto l’influenza fenicia.
-----Arad Haggai, Ph.D.
30 St. John's Court
Buckhurst Hill
Essex IG9 5SP
UK
Phoenician Deepwater Harbours and Levantine Trade in Iron Age II
The Phoenician harbour at Atlit was one of four Iron Age II ‘deep water harbours’ along the
Levantine coast, serving to facilitate trade links between the Phoenicians and the Northern
Kingdom of Israel. Recent underwater research revealed that the artificial harbour was built
during the late 9th/early 8th century BCE, according to radiocarbon dating. The findings suggest
that during this period, the Phoenicians broadened their ‘Pier and Rubble’ construction
technique, allowing deep harbours to be artificially created for the first time. These could
accommodate larger vessels, thereby increasing trade capacity.
-----Dr. Marcus Heinrich Hermanns
Archäologisches Institut der Universität zu Köln
Albertus-Magnus-Platz, D-50923 Köln
Email: [email protected]
Frühe Erztransporte zwischen der Iberischen Halbinsel und Ibiza
Die kürzlich durchgeführten Erzanalysen vom phönizischen Fundplatz Sa Caleta (Ibiza) zeigen,
daß dort Ende des 7. und Anfang des 6. Jhs. v. Chr. nicht nur Blei aus Cartagena und der Sierra
Morena, sondern auch lokal abgebaute Silberbleierze verarbeitet wurden. Die Insel Ibiza war
auch noch später in punischer Zeit vernetzter Handelsraum und Rohstofflieferant zugleich. Für
die Frühzeit kann das Wrack von Mazarrón II (Murcia) aus dem 6. Jhs. v.Chr. die Durchführung
dieser Handelszusammenhänge veranschaulichen.
-----Dr. Karin Hornig
Jacob-Burckhardt-Str. 5
D - 79098 Freiburg, Germany
[email protected]
Zu den Enden der Erde - Fernhandelsfahrten in der Spätbronzezeit
Der Beitrag basiert auf der These, dass die Fernhandelsfahrten der Phöniker eine Fortsetzung
mariner Aktivitäten der Spätbronzezeit darstellen, die von der syro-palästinensischen Küste
ausgingen. Dies soll anhand des Edelmetall-Imports von Ugarit gezeigt werden. Um die
Reichweite und Intensität dieses Seehandelszweiges ermitteln zu können, muss auf ugaritische
und biblische Schriftquellen zurückgegriffen werden. Während das dort erwähnte Silber
offensichtlich vom äußersten Westen des Mittelmeerraums bezogen wurde, scheint das Gold von
einer Quelle in Zentralasien zu stammen. Es wurde von dort in die Indus-Region und dann über
See zum Golf von Aqaba gebracht. Dies bedeutet, dass der Indopazifik schon in der
Spätbronzezeit sehr viel enger und direkter an das ostmediterrane Handelsnetz angeschlossen
war, als bislang vermutet. Von daher wäre dort auch mit entsprechenden Wracks und
Einzelfunden zu rechnen.
(This article is based on the proposition that the long-distance trade journeys of the Phoenicians,
a continuation of marine activities of the Late Bronze Age, which emanated from the SyroPalestinian coast. This will be shown using the precious import of Ugarit. To Determine scope
and intensity of this Seehandelszweiges, you must be resorted to Ugaritic and biblical literary
sources. While the silver mentioned there was obviously based on the extreme west of the
Mediterranean, it seems the gold from a Source to originate in Central Asia. It was then in the
Indus region, and then brought by sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. This means that the Indo-Pacific
was already in the Late Bronze Age, much closer and more directly connected to the EastMediterranean trade network than previously suspected. Hence there would be wrecks and also
with the individual finds to be expected.)
-----Alba Mazza
Underwater Archaeologist, University of Bologna
Scuola di Specializzazione Dipartimento di Archeologia Università di Padova
Piazza Capitaniato 7, 35139 Padova, Italy
Email: [email protected]
Reviewing trade dynamics in Central Mediterranean Sea. The contribution of
achaeometrical analysis on Punic amphorae from Sicily Channel.
A new and unpublished study of Phoenician-Punic amphorae (VII-I century B.C.) from
underwater recovering in Sicily Strait is the main core of the paper. Chronology, typology and
origin were reviewed on the basis of archaeometrical analysis (XRD, DTA, TGA, FT-IR). Results
demonstrate the variety of amphorae shapes attested in Sicily and their distribution in relation to
the chronology; furthermore new data can be added on ateliers location and to understand trade
dynamics in Central Mediterranean Sea."
-----
Eleftheria Pappa (Dr.)
Veni (NOW) Post-graduate researcher, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Faculteit der Letteren (Oudheid), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV
Amsterdam 9A-35
Tel. +31(0)205989460
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Who’s the Phoenician on the Atlantic? Disentangling seafaring from colonization in
western Iberia and Morocco.
The Phoenician settlement on the Atlantic façade of Europe and Africa in the Early Iron Age has
received sustained attention in the last decade. Through the evidence for settlement patterns, the
spread of a script, religious ideas and technological advances,
it can be said that it was a far more multivariate process than formerly envisaged, occurring very
early during the Phoenician “expansion”. Revisions in the chronology, coupled with new
archaeological, epigraphic and palaeoenviromental evidence, suggest a far more fragmented and
diverse process of settlement than formerly envisaged, from the interactions with local groups or
marginalisation, to the emergence of new cultural formations or the abandonment of settlements.
-----Fabrizio A. Pennacchietti
Università di Torino
Scirocco, vento di Sud-Est, termine fenicio?
Il nome del vento di Sud-Est scirocco (fr. sirocco, cast. siroco e jaloque, cat. xaloc, port. xaroco, ted.
Schirokko) è prevalentemente collegato ad arabo classico šurūq “il sorgere (del sole)” o ad arabo
magrebino ša/ulūk/q. L’autore ritiene invece che scirocco costituisca un relitto del lessico
marinaresco cartaginese, con il significato di “(vento) bollente”, facendolo derivare dalla radice š-lq (accadico, ebraico, aramaico) “far bollire; ustionare; disseccare”, radice che in arabo corrisponde
regolarmente alla radice s-l-q “idem”.
The name of the South-Eastern wind of the Mediterranean basin sirocco (it. Scirocco, fr. sirocco,
cast. siroco and jaloque, catal. xaloc, port. xaroco, germ. Schirokko) is prevalently connected with
Classical Arabic šurūq “rise (of the sun)” or with the North African Arabic wind name ša/ulūk/q.
The author maintains that sirocco is a relict of the Carthaginian sailor’s slang, with the meaning of
“scalding (wind)”. It should be derived from the root š-l-q “to boil, cook in boiling water, stew; to
blast, scald (plants, said of excessive heat), of Akkadian, Hebrew and Aramaic, a root which
regularly corresponds to the Arabic root s-l-q with the same meanings.
-----Mark E. Polzer
Institute of Nautical Archaeology
PO Drawer HG
College Station, TX 77841–5137 United States
[email protected]
The INA Phoenician Shipwreck Excavation at Bajo de la Campana, Spain
Since 2008, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology has been excavating a Phoenician shipwreck
from the late 7th century BC located off the southeastern coast of Spain at Bajo de la Campana.
Excavation thus far has yielded a wide array of both raw materials and manufactured luxury
objects from the ship’s cargo. Investigation of the finds is focused on Phoenician commercial
organization in the West, the industrialization of the southeastern region of Spain, and colonial
involvement with the indigenous peoples of the area.
-----Lucy Semaan
PhD candidate, Mares Project
University of Exeter
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Building
Stocker Road, EX4 4ND, EXETER, UK
Email: [email protected]
New Insights in the Iron-Age Timber Trade in Lebanon
The textual evidence for the exploitation of the cedar and other timbers from Lebanon during
the Iron Age largely relates to the annals of the Assyrian and Babylonian kings. These report the
exploitation mainly of the Amanus and Taurus mountains, and less so of Mount Lebanon. The
Mesopotamian kings acquired timber either by cutting trees during their military expeditions, or
imposed it as tribute on the Phoenician kings. However, the kings of Hatti and Kummuhu are
mentioned in these annals more frequently than the rulers of the coastal Phoenician city-states.
On the other hand, the collapse of the Egyptian supremacy in Phoenicia during the Third
Intermediate Period (1085-656 BC) favored the recovery of Byblos, Tyre and other Phoenician
cities. Evidence for the timber trade is provided by the Story of Wen Amon and inscriptions
from the 25th and 26th Egyptian dynasties. This political context might explain why the
Phoenician kings enjoyed some kind of political and economical autonomy at certain times which
allowed them to play an active role in the timber trade; not so much as submissive powers but
more as private entrepreneurialship endeavourers. This paper examines the evidence for such a
role, together with evidence illustrating the timber trade processes during the Iron Age in
Lebanon. These processes include the issues of acquisition, felling, conversion, seasoning, fluvial
and terrestrial transportation, handling at points of exports, and the maritime transportation of
the logs. It will also aim at suggesting new perspectives on interpretations stated in previous
publications on the subject of timber exploitation.
-----Alec Tilley
Lieutenant Commander RN (retired)
Fieldfare, East Street, Hambledon, Hampshire, PO7 4RX, UK
Email: [email protected]
Phoenician Triremes and Boats
In this paper it is suggested that a distinctive shipbuilding technique, horizontal planking which
ignores a steep sheer-line, leads us to Phoenicians and their settlements, from Bangladesh via
Kerala to Portugal. This technique is linked to Phoenicians via the Maltese dghaisa and the
Venetian gondola. Linguistic evidence supports the suggestion.
Wall reliefs from the 8th cent. BC Palace of Sargon II show Phoenician boats that are ancestral to
the Maltese dghaisa of today (Tilley 1969 and Casson 1995). That is easy to accept because no-one
doubts Malta’s Phoenician past.
The Balawat Gates show boats closely resembling Venetian gondolas, indicating that the Veneti
of the Adriatic were also Phoenicians. Perhaps because that idea is startling, it has been generally
ignored, except by the late Paul Johnstone (1995, 95-7). There is however, linguist and other
evidence, some of it not previously published, linking Adriatic Venetians and Phoenicians.
It has often been casually remarked that the dghaisa is ‘the gondola of Malta’ but the obvious
resemblance is reinforce by particulars of their construction. The keel-less gondola is virtually a
dghaisa until it leaves its cantiere/keel and its stem-post behind in the boatyard. The most
important common feature is the way in which the planking runs horizontally, ignoring both
boats’ steep sheer line. Thus the planking ends in a little triangle. It is strikingly unlike the
northern European tradition in which the planking follows the sheer line.
The harpoon boats that until recently operated out of Scylla resemble the Palace of Sargon boats
and the Maltese dghaisa closely enough to suggest that Scylla too was once Phoenician, and strove
to control the Strait of Messina.
The horizontal style of planking was used until the 1970s on the coast of Portugal where a
remarkable great fishing boat, the xavega, (Johnstone and Tilley 1976) has links to Phoenicians.
Further north, the Veneti whom Caesar overcame with such difficulty, were said by Strabo to
have been the same people as the Adriatic Veneti. The xavega resembles the ships on the Thera
frescoes closely enough to indicate a Phoenician connexion.
In Kerela I have recently observed and photographed fishing boats and fishing techniques too
similar to the Portuguese xavega to be unrelated, and similar boats are to bee seen in Bangladesh.
Herodotus says that the Phoenicians came originally from the coasts of the Indian Ocean. The
Semitic name for Tyre, the Phoenician city in the Lebanon is Sur. That is a name it shares with
Sur, the maritime centre of Oman, which suggests that Lebanese Tyre/Sur was founded from
Omani Sur. It is reasonable to infer that the people whom the Greeks knew as Phoenicians were
part of a maritime culture that covered the Indian Ocean, much like the ships and seamen
described by Allan Villiers in his ‘Sons of Sindbad’