The Bozburun Shipwreck is a

Middle Byzantine Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome, decline of western Rome and ...

merchant vessel discovered by Turkish sponge diver Mehmet Askin in 1973 off the

Bozburun Peninsula Bozburun Peninsula () is a peninsula in southwest Turkey. In antiquity the cape at its extremity was called ''Aphrodisias'' (). It is between the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. Datça Peninsula is to the north and the Greek Greek may refer to: ...

in Turkey, and excavated by the

Institute of Nautical Archaeology The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) is an organization devoted to the study of humanity's interaction with the sea through the practice of archaeology. It is the world’s oldest organization devoted to the study of nautical archaeology. ...

beginning in 1995. Based on

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

, the wood from the ship was dated to AD 874.Harpster, M. B., & Pulak, C. M. (2005). A re-assembly and reconstruction of the 9th-century AD vessel wrecked off the coast of Bozburun, Turkey. exas A&M University

Construction and Cargo

The vessel is the first archaeological evidence of the use of coaked

dowels The dowel is a cylindrical shape made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is long and called a ''dowel rod'', which are often cut into shorter ''dowel pins''. Dowels are commonly used as structural reinforceme ...

during the Byzantine Period in the transition between shell first

mortise-and-tenon A mortise and tenon (occasionally mortice and tenon) is a joint that connects two pieces of wood or other material. Woodworkers around the world have used it for thousands of years to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect ...

construction and frame first construction. Later finds at the Theodosian Harbor in modern Yenikapi, Istanbul further support the usage of this method of construction in Byzantine ships. Oak was used for the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

, posts, floor timbers amidships, some futtocks, and most planking. A lack of amphorae at a point on the starboard side near the stern indicates the location of a

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

with a set of ten cooking pots, two collar stands, and tiles for the hearth. McManamon, J. M., & Hocker, F. (2020). The Middle Byzantine Bozburun Ship. ''INA Quarterly'', 47(3/4), 3–9. Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Retrieved from https://nauticalarch.org/ina-quarterly/ina-quarterly-47-3-4-fall-winter-2020/ The Bozburun ship carried an estimated 1300

amphorae An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

which match types made at kilns in Cherson,

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. The total weight of this cargo is estimated to be 20-25 tons. At least 62 amphorae were discovered with intact bark stoppers. The contents of these amphorae were analyzed and believed to be red wine or

grape must Must is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must is the ...

. Several pottery marks with h. ΕΠ,ΕΠΙС, or ΕΠΙСΚΟ indicate that the wine was destined for use by a bishop.

References

{{coord missing, Aegean Sea Byzantine ships Shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea