Israel finds three Iron Age shipwrecks at ancient port of Dor

According to a recent scientific publication in the journal Antiquity, one of the world's most prestigious archaeological journals, three shipwrecks and their cargoes, dating back to the Iron Age (1200–586 BC), were discovered at the ancient port of Dor, located on the Carmel coast in northern Israel.

This is the first time shipwrecks from this period have been found in Israeli waters.

The Iron Age, also known as the First Temple Period, is the period of history in which many of the events described in the Hebrew Bible are believed to have taken place.

At least for part of the time, in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, Dor was likely under the control of the Kingdom of Israel.

Although little remains of the ship's hull, the surviving cargo – dating to the 11th, 9th and 7th/6th centuries BC – provides important insights into trade routes during a pivotal period in the region's history.

These findings challenge the long-held view of many scholars that trade during the time of the biblical kingdoms was very limited.

In fact, Iron Age shipwrecks are extremely rare, with only 11 recorded in the entire Mediterranean.

“Tel Dor is one of the few Iron Age ports ever discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Professor Thomas Levy from the University of California, San Diego, said at a meeting in Jerusalem last month.

“Just a short distance to the south is the Dor Lagoon (or Tantura Lagoon), which is rich in ancient shipwrecks.”

Professor Levy, co-author of the study, explains that Iron Age finds are rare not for historical reasons but for practical reasons: underwater archaeology is expensive. “Scholars usually focus on later periods like Hellenistic or Roman,” he stresses.

The excavation, which will run from 2023–2024 and is co-led by Levy and Professor Assaf Yasur-Landau from the University of Haifa, found three shipwrecks stacked on top of each other in the Tantura lagoon. “We found three Iron Age shipwrecks stacked on top of each other – like the archaeological strata you would find on an ancient mound, but underwater,” says Professor Levy.

The goods found were mainly pottery – such as amphorae (basket-handled vessels) and jars, along with items such as lead-coated wooden anchors, balancing stones, and iron blooms.

The artifacts were dated using a combination of ceramic style analysis and radiocarbon dating of organic remains such as grape seeds and resin in the jars – thanks to the anaerobic environment created by the underwater sand layer.

“Each historical period has its own distinctive pottery style, and we combine that with the C14 data, which allows us to date it quite confidently,” says Professor Levy.

The period of shipwrecks – from the 11th to the 6th centuries BC – was a pivotal period in the history of the land of Israel. Before that, in the late Bronze Age, the region had witnessed an international trade network controlled by major civilizations such as Hittite, Mycenae, and Egyptian.

After about 1200 BC, these networks collapsed, leading to different economic responses by the emerging Iron Age kingdoms.

Professor Levy says the new discoveries at Dor show that the Israeli coast was an important part of the Iron Age Mediterranean trade network, contrary to previous assumptions that trade virtually ceased after the collapse of major civilizations.

According to Professor Levy, the research team has only just begun analyzing the artifacts, and the data from this discovery is enough to publish up to nine new scientific research papers./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/israel-tim-thay-ba-xac-tau-dam-thoi-ky-do-sat-tai-cang-co-dor-post1069777.vnp