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This paper provides the first comprehensive sourcing analysis of the tin ingots carried by the well-known Late Bronze Age shipwreck found off the Turkish coast at Uluburun (ca. 1320 BCE). Using lead isotope, trace element, and tin isotope analyses, this study demonstrates that ores from Central Asia (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) were used to produce one-third of the Uluburun tin ingots. The remaining two-thirds were derived from the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, namely, from stream tin and residual low-grade mineralization remaining after extensive exploitation in the Early Bronze Age. The results of our metallurgical analysis, along with archaeological and textual data, illustrate that a culturally diverse, multiregional, and multivector system underpinned Eurasian tin exchange during the Late Bronze Age. The demonstrable scale of this connectivity reveals a vast and disparate network that relied as much on the participation of small regional communities as on supposedly hegemonic institutions of large, centralized states.

In 2002, the recovery of a 1000-litre perforated dolium in the Trstenik section of Kaštel Sućurac, near Split, Croatia, attracted the attention of archaeologists to significant Roman remains submerged near the shore. A return visit to the site in 2006 identified the outline of a wooden ship scuttled alongside a submerged wooden wall: in 2015, the ship was uncovered and labelled, recorded via photogrammetry and extensively sampled, then preserved in situ. Reconstruction determined the ship to be a flat-floored, ­mortise-and-tenon constructed ship, dated to approximately the late 1st century AD, suitable for the transport of heavy cargo. En 2002, la récupération d’un dolium perforé d’une capacité de 1000 litres à Trstenik, Kaštel Sućurac près de Split en Croatie, a attiré l’attention des archéologues sur d’importants vestiges romains immergés près du rivage. Une expertise sur le site en 2006 a permis d’identifier les contours d’un navire coulé volontairement le long d’une paroi en bois. C’est finalement en 2015 que le navire a fait l’objet d’un dégagement et d’un marquage avant d’être enregistré par photogrammétrie et largement échantillonné, puis conservé in situ. Le travail de reconstruction a permis de déterminer que ce navire assemblé à tenons et mortaises, daté approximativement de la fin du ier siècle apr. J.-C., possédait un fond plat et était adapté au transport d’une cargaison pondéreuse.

International audience; The glass ingots from the Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck (ca. 1300 BCE) provide crucial insight into Late Bronze Age glass production and exchange in the Mediterranean. Almost all of the approximately 200 glass ingots on board the ship were sampled as well as five of the 30 Mycenaean glass relief beads. Here we report the full chemical compositional results for these samples, along with 49 strontium isotope analyses representing at least 48 separate glass ingots. We include as well 355 unpublished analyses of Late Bronze Age Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Levantine, and Aegean glasses; these represent a total of 222 different objects since many of the core-formed vessel fragments are polychrome and each color was analysed separately. The results suggest that the Uluburun glass ingots were produced in as few as 28 discrete production events or batches. The largest batch included at least 16 ingots representing 40 kg of glass with a chemical composition as perfectly uniform as could be determined by our LA-ICP-MS analyses. Cluster analysis and comparison of Ti/Cr and Li/Zr ratios indicate that all of the ingots are Egyptian glass. In addition, based on this new dataset we have identified the first Egyptian glasses to be found at Mesopotamian sites as well as several examples of Mesopotamian glass used to produce Egyptian objects. The Mycenaean glass relief beads on board the ship were also produced with Egyptian glass, although in this case more similar to glass from Amarna than to the Uluburun ingots. These results, coupled with our finding that glass almost identical to ingots found on the ship was used to produce several of the unprovenanced Mycenaean relief beads from museum collections, presents a picture of overall technological continuity combined with geographic flexibility at the end of the Amarna Period in Egypt.Glass ingots from Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck all made from Egyptian glass.•Cluster Analysis and trace-element ratios to identify geographic source.•Ingots of high-quality glass produced in chemically identical batches.•Evidence for significant amounts of Mesopotamian glass in Amarna, Egypt, workshops.•First report of Egyptian glass at Mesopotamian sites although quantities limited.

Lead isotope analysis (LIA) can be applied to tin provenance studies when both the U–Th–Pb characteristics of cassiterite and potential Pb contamination are taken into account. As cassiterite (SnO2) contains higher concentrations of U than Pb and negligible Th, radioactive decay increases 206Pb/204Pb and 207Pb/204Pb ratios in cassiterite over time. However, 208Pb/204Pb ratio retains its primary value and can be correlated with LIA databases. A majority of documented Bronze Age tin ingots from Europe have Pb in excess of the 5 ppm maximum that can be derived from Cenozoic to Late Paleozoic cassiterite. A minute mass of galena (PbS) in the ore concentrate is sufficient to mask the cassiterite-derived lead, as would the addition of any lead contaminant introduced in the smelting/casting process. If the galena is cogenetic with the cassiterite, then LIA will be unaffected. The inclusion of uranium-rich minerals in the tin ore concentrate is another potential source of excess lead. In this case, the additional Pb is uranogenic, and so 206Pb/204Pb and 207Pb/204Pb will reflect the age of the uranium minerals, but 208Pb/204Pb will retain its primary value. If the U-minerals are cogenetic or coeval with tin mineralization, then a Pb isochron age will indicate the age of the ore. Between 1984 and 1994, at least 117 ingots, or roughly one tonne, of tin was raised from the Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck (ca. 1320 B.C.). Over half of the analyzed ingots from this wreck site have high Pb concentrations (>100 ppm), indicative of contamination from non-radiogenic lead associated with lead metal or galena. LIA indicates that the Pb originated from the Pb–Ag-rich Bolkardag region of the south-central Taurus Mountains. A second group of approximately 28 tin ingots with lower Pb content ( By compensating for previous uncertainty around the use of Pb isotopes for sourcing tin objects, it is now possible to contextualize the Uluburun tin ingots more securely within the metallurgical systems of the Central Taurus-Cilicia-Amanus axis. Recent scholarship has shown that tin production in the South-Central Taurus region had taken place at a scale not previously anticipated. Two parallel production systems appear to have been in place serving elite and common consumption networks via markedly different technologies. The South-Central Taurus and Cilician cities served as important components of maritime and terrestrial metal distribution around the eastern Mediterranean, providing a range of metals from a single geographical region.

International audience

Excavations at Yenikapi in Istanbul, Turkey, related to the Marmaray Project, have unearthed remains of Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour, including 37 Byzantine shipwrecks of 5th- to 11th-century date. Eight of these shipwrecks, six round ships and two of the first long ships, or galleys, to be excavated from the Byzantine period, were studied by archaeologists from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. These well-preserved shipwrecks are an important new source of information on the maritime commerce of Constantinople and the gradual shift from shell-based to skeleton-based shipbuilding in the Mediterranean during the second half of the first millennium AD.

Kas yakinlarindaki Uluburun Mevkiinde 14. yuzyil sonlarinda batmis olan ticari bir geminin yukleri arasinda kulce halinde 10 ton kadar bakir ve bir ton kadar da kalay yer almaktadir. Uluburun gemisi olarak bilinen bu batiktaki kalay kulceler, kesin olarak tarihlenebilen ve kulce sekilleri belirgin olan en eski kalay grubunu olusturmaktadir. Kalay kulcelerine ek olarak, gemide kalaydan yapilmis bazi kaplar da bulunmustur. Kulcelerin bir kismi korozyon nedeniyle zarar gormus veya tamamiyle eriyerek yok olmuslarsa da, bir cogu orijinal sekilleriyle gunumuze kadar kismen veya tamamen korunmus olarak ulasmistir. Uluburun gemisinde tasinmakta olan kalay kulcelerinin bircogu, gemiye yuklenmesinden cok once kesilerek parcalara bolunmuslerdir. Gemide en az yedi farkli tipteki kalay kulcesinin tasindigi saptanmistir. Bunlardan dordu icin elimizde tam olan orneklerin bulunmasina karsin, diger kulce tipleri ancak kesilmis parcalarin incelenmesi sonucunda anlasilabilmektedir. Nispeten saglam durumda ele gecen 110 adet kalay kulcesinden en az 70 adedi okuzgonu bicimindedir. Okuzgonu kulcelerin hemen tamami kesilerek kabaca ceyrek veya ¼’luk bolumlere ayrilmis olmakla birlikte, iki adet saglam ve bir miktar da yarim kulce buluntular arasinda yer almaktadir. Kalay kulcelerinden yaklasik 25 adedinde sonradan yapilmis olan isaretler bulunmaktadir. Bunlardan belirgin olan 16 adet isaretin bir bolumu sadece kalay kulcelerinde yer almakta, digerleri ise gemideki bakir kulcelerinde de gorulen isaretlerdendir. Yapilan kursunizotop analizleri sonucunda, kalay kulcelerinden bir kisminin Orta Toros'lardaki polimetalik cevher izotoplari ile benzerlik gosterdigi, bir bolumunun de Akdeniz'de gorulmeyen, ancak Orta Asya'da bulunan cevherler ile ortak ozellikler gosterdigi anlasilmaktadir. Ancak, kulcelerin kesin kaynagi henuz tespit edilmemis olmakla birlikte, tamaminin Akdeniz disindaki kaynaklardan temin edilmis olmasi da soz konusudur. Uluburun gemisi, bakir ve kalay kulcelerinin yanisira diger bircok ham ve mamul malzemenin Dogu Akdeniz kiyilarindan denizasiri diger bolgelere ulastirilmasi konusundaki en onemli ve belirgin orneklerimizden birini olusturmaktadir.

Excavation of the Uluburun shipwreck near Kaş in southern Turkey has yielded one of the largest and richest assemblages of Bronze Age trade goods and raw materials ever found. The finds provide significant insight into, and the clearest glimpse of, Late Bronze Age maritime and terrestrial trade in the Mediterranean. The 1984–1994 excavation of the shipwreck, under the auspices of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, revealed an immense cargo of raw materials, manufactured goods, a collection of premium, exotic items, personal effects, items for shipboard use, ship's equipment, and a small portion of the hull. The conservation and analysis of nearly seventeen tons of artifacts recovered from the site demonstrate the diversity and complexity of the assemblage.

A shipwreck of the Hellenistic period, looted of almost all visible remains, was discovered by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in 1973 at Serce Limani on Turkey's southwest coast. Partial excavation of the site by the Institute, between 1978 and 1980, revealed hundreds of amphoras, in two rather iniform sizes, still beneath the sand. Grape seeds and resinous linings in many of them indicate a cargo of wine; a secondary cargo may have been carried in more than two dozen small, bulbous pots. The amphoras and their stamps suggest that the ship sank ca. 280-275 B.C., providing a date for presumably contemporaneous glazed and plain wares found in the only area of the site excavated to the level of the ship's lead-sheathed hull. Other finds include millstones, marble and lead rings, a wooden toggle, and a length of lead pipe that may provide the earliest evidence for bilge pumps. The excavation was not continued after it was discovered that the wreck runs under a rockslide of massive boulders that might endanger the site if moved.