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The Gelidonya
Wreck
 Peter
Throckmorton stayed for two years with the Bodrum sponge
fishers in the hope of discovering the ship laden with bronze
that had been observed by Captain Aras off Gelidonya Point
near Antalya.
Exploration was begun in 1959 and was rewarded by the discovery
of a heap of bronze ingots in the form of ox-hides, on the
strength of which the wreck that contained them could immediately
be dated to the Bronze Age.
Throckmorton drew the attention of the University of Pennsylvania
Museum to the find, and in 1960 George F. Bass, an expert
on the Mycenean Age, was given permission to carry out excavations
on the wreck. Thus began the first official underwater excavation
in Turkey.
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| Fragment of a straw mat, after 3300 years
underwater |
A diving crew was set up and trained with the help of Frederic
Dumas, one of the experts from the Cousteau team, and the
expedition set out for Gelidonya Point in a sponge-fisher's
boat. The wreck, however, had become so clamped to the rocks
that it was impossible to move it, and sections could only
be removed by hacking them off with a chisel.
In any case very little of the wooden hull had survived,
but fragments of the shell were found nailed to the hull
in exactly the same way as described in the Odyssey. In
addition to the ingots there were large quantities of bronze
hammers, spades, needles, knives and other implements, which
indicates that this was a merchant ship, while the fact
that the bronze comes from Cyprus would suggest that the
ship was on its way from this country. The existence of
moulds, together with copper ore and tin, shows that the
bronze was being made on board during the voyage.
The finds discovered indicate a date in the 13th century
B.C., which means that this is the earliest boat so far
excavated. The objects found in it formed the basis of the
Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Bodrum.
Activities
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