Mediterranean Connections: Maritime Transport Containers and Seaborne Trade in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages

284 Pages·2016·5.51 MB·English

by  A. Bernard Knapp

Mediterranean Connections
Mediterranean Connections focuses on the origin and development of
Maritime Transport Containers from the Early Bronze through early Iron Age
periods (c. 3200–700 bc). Analysis of this category of objects broadens our
understanding of ancient Mediterranean interregional connections, including
the role that shipwrecks, seafaring, and coastal communities played in
interaction and exchange. These containers have often been the subject of
specific and detailed pottery studies, but have seldom been examined in the
context of connectivity and trade in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
This broad study:
● considers the likely origins of these types of vessels;
● traces their development and spread throughout the Aegean and eastern
Mediterranean as archetypal organic bulk cargo containers;
● discusses the wider impact on Mediterranean connections, transport and
trade over a period of 2,500 years covering the Bronze and early Iron Ages.
Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists and historians, as well as maritime
archaeologists, will find this extensively researched volume an important
addition to their library.
A. Bernard Knapp is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology in the
Department of Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, and Honorary
Research Fellow at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute.
He co-edits the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology with John F. Cherry
and Peter van Dommelen and is the general editor of the series Monographs in
Mediterranean Archaeology.
Stella Demesticha is Associate Professor of Maritime Archaeology in the
Archaeological Research Unit, Department of History and Archaeology,
University of Cyprus. She specialises in maritime archaeology, with an interest
in shipwreck amphorae, ancient seaborne trade routes and economy in the
eastern Mediterranean.
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Mediterranean Connections
Maritime Transport Containers and
Seaborne Trade in the Bronze and
Early Iron Ages
A. Bernard Knapp and
Stella Demesticha
With contributions by:
Robert Martin and Catherine E. Pratt
First published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 A. Bernard Knapp and Stella Demesticha
The right of A. Bernard Knapp and Stella Demesticha to be identified as authors of
this work (excluding the contributions by Robert Martin and Catherine E. Pratt)
has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Knapp, Arthur Bernard, author. | Demesticha, Stella, co-author.
Title: Mediterranean connections : maritime transport containers and seaborne
trade in the Bronze and Iron ages / A. Bernard Knapp and Stella Demesticha ; with
contributions by Robert Martin and Catherine E. Pratt.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016005697| ISBN 9781629583549 (hardback) | ISBN
9781315537009 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Mediterranean Region--Commerce--History. | Mediterranean
Region--Antiquities. | Shipping--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500. |
Containers--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500. | Amphoras--Mediterranean
Region--History--To 1500. | Storage jars--Mediterranean Region--History--To
1500. | Bronze age--Mediterranean Region. | Iron age--Mediterranean Region. |
Mediterranean Region--History, Naval. | Mediterranean Region--History--To 476.
| BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE / General. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology.
Classification: LCC HF381 .K53 2016 | DDC 381.0937--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016005697
ISBN: 978-1-629-58354-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-53700-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgements xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Maritime Matters 4
Shipwrecks 4
Sailing 9
Harbours 11
3 Connectivity, Seaborne Trade and Maritime Transport
Containers 30
4 Maritime Transport Containers 36
Amphora 36
Shape and Function 37
Maritime Transport Containers: The Bronze Age 42
The Levant: Canaanite Jars 46
Egypt: Egyptian Jars/Amphorae 66
The Aegean: Cycladic Narrow-necked Jars, Oval-mouthed
Amphorae (OMAs) and Transport Stirrup Jars (TSJs) 70
Other Bronze Age Transport Containers? 88
Maritime Transport Containers: Into the Iron Age 102
Iron Age Levant: Background and History of Research
(Robert Martin) 102
Cyprus (Stella Demesticha) 130
The Aegean (Stella Demesticha and Catherine E. Pratt) 132
vi Contents
5 Maritime Transport Containers, Bulk Transport and
Mediterranean Trade: Discussion 148
The Organisation and Mechanisms of Trade in MTCs 151
The Political Setting of Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Trade
in MTCs 160
6 Conclusions: MTCs and Mediterranean Connectivity 164
Appendix: Volumetric Analysis and Capacity Measurements
of Selected MTCs 172
References 185
Index 250
Illustrations
Figures
Map 1 a) Bronze–Iron Age harbours (Aegean) xiv
b) Bronze–Iron Age harbours (Cyprus, Egypt) xv
c) Bronze–Iron Age harbours (Anatolia, Levant) xvi
Map 2 a) Bronze–Iron Age sites with Maritime Transport
Containers (west and central Mediterranean) xvii
b) Bronze–Iron Age sites with Maritime Transport
Containers (Aegean, Anatolia) xviii
c) Bronze–Iron Age sites with Maritime Transport
Containers (Crete, Cyprus) xix
d) Bronze–Iron Age sites with Maritime Transport
Containers (Egypt, Levant) xx
1 Bronze–Iron Age sites with shipwrecks mentioned in text 5
2 Bichrome ware jug (Cypro-Archaic, c.750 bc) 25
3 Scene from Tomb of Kenamun 28
4 EB II–III Metallic Ware jars from Tel Dan 45
5 Canaanite Jars 53
6 Canaanite Jar types 54
7 Canaanite Jars from the Uluburun shipwreck 55
8 Collar-rim jar and Canaanite jar 59
9 Egyptian Jar and Canaanite Jar 66
10 Egyptian Jars from the tomb of Tutankhamun 67
11 Egyptian Amphorae 67
12 New Kingdom Tomb of Nakht, Thebes, with grape-harvest scene 68
13 Collar-necked Jar and Canaanite Jar 71
14 Cycladic EB I–II Kampos group bottle from Antiparos 71
15 Cycladic Collar-Necked Jars. a) from Skarkos, Ios 72
16 Yagana ‘hydria’, from Yagana wreck deposit 73
17 Oval-Mouthed Amphora and Canaanite Jar 75
18 Cretan Oval-mouthed Amphora, Knossos Temple Repositories 76
19 Oval-mouthed Amphora, from Pseira (Crete) and Koulenti 78
20 Transport Stirrup Jar and Canaanite Jar 79
viii Illustrations
21 Transport Stirrup Jar, Late Minoan III, from Episkopi Bamboula 80
22 Transport Stirrup Jars, from the Uluburun shipwreck and Point
Iria wreck deposit 82
23 Cypriot pithos (Group II) and Canaanite Jar 88
24 Cypriot ‘Group II’ pithoi, from Point Iria wreck deposit and
Uluburun shipwreck 91
25 Isometric reconstruction of Building II at Alassa Paleotaverna 92
26 Cretan Short-necked Amphora and Canaanite Jar 93
27 Short-necked Amphora from Kommos, Crete 95
28 Southwest Anatolian reddish-brown burnished jug from
Kommos, Crete 97
29 Digital restoration of fragmentary olla a colletto, from Pyla
Kokkinokremos, Cyprus 99
30 Plain, belly-handled pithoid jar from Modi shipwreck, off Poros 101
31 Map: Iron Age archaeological sites and shipwrecks mentioned in
text 106
32 Reconstructed Iron Age Phoenician amphora, from Kommos,
Crete 108
33 Iron Age I MTC typology 110
34 Iron Age I MTCs, from Tell Kazel, Maa Palaeokastro 110
35 Iron Age I MTCs, from Palaipaphos Skales, Dor Wreck 13 111
36 Iron Age I MTCs, from Palaipaphos Skales, Tell Keisan 113
37 Iron Age I MTCs, from Tyre, Deir el-Medina 114
38 Iron Age I MTCs, from Palaipaphos Skales, Amarna River
Temple 115
39 Iron Age II MTC typology 122
40 Iron Age II ‘Thick cylindrical storage jars’, from Hazor,
Saqqara, Pithekoussai 122
41 Iron Age II ‘Cylindrical elongated jars’, from Elissa shipwreck,
Pithekoussai 123
42 Iron Age II ‘S-shaped elongated jars’, from Tyre and off
southern Levantine coast 124
43 Diachronic Overview (Early Bronze–Early Iron Ages) of
Levantine ‘commercial jars’ 127
44 Cypriot Basket-handled Amphora, from Salamis 130
45 North Aegean Group 1 and ‘Transitional’ Amphorae, from Troy,
Kapaklı (Volos) 134
46 Methonian and Attic SOS Amphorae 138
47 Corinthian Amphorae, Type A and ‘Transitional’ type, from
Incoronata, Metaponto 141
A1 Capacities of the Maritime Transport Containers measured 183
A2 Digital models of an Egyptian jar (9); a Canaanite Jar (12); and a
Transport Stirrup jar (15) 184
Illustrations ix
Tables
1 Canaanite Jars from Cyprus 57
2 General Chronology for Iron Age I–II Levant 102
3 Iron Age I Typological Correlations 109
4 Iron Age II Typological Correlations 121
5 Maritime Transport Containers—Trade Mechanisms 152
A1 Calculated Capacities of Maritime Transport Container Types 176
A2 Capacities of the MTCs enumerated in Table A1 182