The Kyrenia Ship is the wreck of a 4th-century BC ancient Greek
merchant ship
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...
. It was discovered by Greek-Cypriot diving instructor Andreas Cariolou in November 1965 during a storm.
Having lost the exact position, Cariolou carried out more than 200 dives until he re-discovered the wreck in 1967 close to
Kyrenia
Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus.
While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...
in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. Michael Katzev, a graduate student at the
, directed a scientific excavation from 1967–69. Preservation of the ship's
timbers
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
continued during the winter of 1970. Katzev later was a co-founder of the
Institute of Nautical Archaeology
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) is the world's oldest organization devoted to the study of humanity's interaction with the sea through the practice of archaeology.
History
INA's founder George Bass (archeologist), Dr. George Bass pion ...
. The find was extensively covered in a documentary by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation titled "With Captain, Sailors Three: The Ancient Ship of Kyrenia"]. The ship itself was very well preserved with approximately 75% of its hull in good condition. It found a new home at the Ancient Shipwreck Museum in
Kyrenia Castle
, tr, Girne Kalesi)
, image = Kyrenia 01-2017 img02 Castle exterior.jpg
, caption = Kyrenia Castle
, map_type = Cyprus
, coordinates =
, location_town = Kyrenia
, location_country = De jure De facto
, ...
, where it remains on exhibit.
Career
The ship sailed in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
during the lifetime of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
and his successors. She sank in open waters less than a mile from the ancient harbor of
Kyrenia
Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus.
While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...
. The evidence points to her being taken by rough seas around the year 300 BC, when she was rather old, though piracy is a distinct possibility.
Archaeologists found spear points in the hull.
While these could very well be used for the protection of the crew, rubber casts indicate that some were in contact with the lead sheathing covering the ship.
This would suggest that the points were stuck inside the hull when it sank - possible evidence of an attack.
In typical
merchant ships
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...
the
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
would have a balance, weights, and coinage for measuring and trading goods- all of which were missing.
Even more surprising is that over a ton of cargo is absent from the wreckage.
This leads researchers to believe that the ship could have been plundered. What opens up this argument further is the presence of an uninscribed
curse tablet
A curse tablet ( la, tabella defixionis, defixio; el, κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) is a small tablet with a curse written on it from the Greco-Roman world. Its name originated from the Greek and Latin words for "pierce" and "bind". The table ...
in the wreckage.
In this scenario a
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
would hammer the lead tablet to a part of the boat in hopes that gods of the underworld would drag the ship to the seabed and hold it there to conceal the evidence of the crime. This tablet, along with the missing equipment leads many to believe that piracy played a part in the vessel's sinking.
The ship was in use by merchants for 15–25 years.
Knowing that the ship was old, archaeologists could use the repairs on the hull to better understand classical carpentry. A break in the ship's keel had been mended, and the outside of the ship was protected with pitch and lead sheathing to keep the aging timbers water-tight and extend the ship's working life..
Closer analysis of the rabbets in the hull's frame suggest that the mast step had been moved up to three, and possibly four times.
This movement happens to be in close proximity with a space to collect bilge water.
[ Because of this, archaeologists surmise that the movement of the mast step was to make way for a larger bilge bucket, capable of lifting water out and overboard][ These extreme measures to deal with water infiltration corroborate the frailty of the ship and may havey contributed to its sinking. The hull's near-complete preservation, along with its extensive repairs, demonstrate its long sailing life and adds greatly to our knowledge of ship building in antiquity.
]
Discovery
The shipwreck of Kyrenia (Keryneia) was discovered in November 1965 by the Kyrenian Greek Cypriot diving instructor and Municipal Councilor Andreas Cariolou while collecting sponges at a sea depth of 33 metres, approximately a nautical mile Northeast of the harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
of Kyrenia on the North coast of the Republic of Cyprus, during a stormy day. With the storm at the surface the anchor of his vessel started to drag on the muddy seabed. Cariolou noticed the cloud of the drag and followed the anchor's slow travel when he suddenly noticed the shipwreck. Happily bewildered he had to quickly recover and follow the drag of his anchor as his vessel was dangerously approaching the rocky coast. Understanding the importance of his finding and the danger of illegal excavations, he remained discreet about it informing only the director of the Department of Antiquities Dr. Vasos Karagiorgis and the President of the Republic of Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. In late 1967, the Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus, invited a number of Underwater Archaeologists to study the possibilities of excavating at such a particularly difficult and costly sea depth. Amongst them was nautical archaeologist Michael Katzev of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology who was working at the time on a survey of the coast of Cyprus for shipwrecks. In that year, Andreas Cariolou took the team headed by Michael Katzev to the site.
First, a team of scientists from Oxford University (Dr. Edward Hall, Dr. Jeremy Green), using a "proton" magnetometer metal detector and probes, spent a month surveying the site to find metal parts and the approximate position of the entire ship and her cargo over an area measuring approximately 20 metres by 5 metres. During the summers of 1968 and 1969 , Michael Katzev directed the expedition consisting of more than 50 underwater archaeologists, students and technicians employing stereo-photography and other developed techniques to record the position of each object before it was brought to surface. Then the ship's wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
hull which was well preserved in the silt and muddy seabed was "mapped", labeled and carefully lifted in a number of pieces to the surface.
Archaeological evidence
The objects in Kyrenia Castle are the original ones that she carried during her last voyage about 2300 years ago. From them we can learn about the life of the captain and three sailora who manned the ship. More than 400 wine amphoras, mostly made in Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
, constitute the main cargo and they indicate that the ship made an important stop at that island, possibly its home port.
Ten distinct amphora
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
shapes on board suggest other ports of call, such as Samos
Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...
in the north. Another cargo of the ship was perfectly preserved almonds
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of th ...
, 9000 in number, that were found in jars and also within the ship's hull. Twenty-nine millstones
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...
, laden in three rows over the keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
as cargo also served as ballast
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...
. At the stone quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
, probably on the island of Kos
Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...
, masons carved letters of identification on the sides of these stones. All these bits of evidence suggest that the ship sailed southwards along the coast of Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, calling at Samos
Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...
, Kos
Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...
and Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
before continuing eastwards to her destruction off Cyprus.
The sailors fished during the voyage and this is revealed by more than 300 lead net weights found in the bow. Meals were probably prepared ashore, using large casserole pots and a bronze cauldron. Four wooden spoons, four oil jugs, four salt dishes and four drinking cups recovered in the shipwreck suggest that her crew on her last voyage consisted of four seamen.
The ship's single sail may have been taken down before she sank as the stern cabin contained more than 100 lead rigging rings from a large square sail stowed there. The wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin tha ...
ull , built mostly of pine (Pinus brutia), was preserved for a length of almost 14.7 metres by 4.4 metres across. The ship was built using the "shell first" ancient method, the opposite of today's method. Contrary to the contemporary wood boat building method where a complete skeleton of frames of the entire vessel must first be constructed, in this case, the planking from the keel and up was joined together first, using a mortice-and-tenon construction, and then the frames were laid in, secured with an ingenious assembly wood pegs pierced by copper nails passing through both frames and planks. The ship was intended for long service and underwent four major repairs in her life. In the last repair a skin of lead sheathing of 1.5 to 2 millimeters thickness was applied to her body to hopefully keep the old ship comparatively safe from woodworm and probably help watertightness. Carbon 14 dating of the ship's planks gives a date of 389 BC (plus or minus 44 years). Carbon 14 dating of the almonds points to a date of 288 BC (plus or minus 62 years). Hence the ship was very old the day she sank.
Preservation and conservation of the ship's wood began in 1970 and lasted four years until the original timbers were reassembled on permanent scaffolding, to be seen still today on exhibit, along with its cargoes and goods of the sailors in Kyrenia Castle.
Replicas
![Treasures of THALASSA Museum Ayia Napa 52](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Treasures_of_THALASSA_Museum_Ayia_Napa_52.JPG)
Kyrenia II
In 1985, the President and founder of the Hellenic Institute for the Preservation of Nautical Tradition (HIPNT) Harry Tzalas in close cooperation with Dr. Michael Katzev and ancient ship re-constructor Richard Steffy with a number of Greek experts on traditional boat building and underwater archaeology, completed a full-size replica of the ship, known as ''Kyrenia II''. The ship was constructed following an exact procedure as the one followed by the ancient boatbuilder of the ancient ship of Kyrenia. This was achieved at the Manolis Psaros boatyard in Piraeus Greece . Kyrenia II is often used as a floating ambassador of Cypriot culture, and has visited many parts of the world. In 1986, it visited New York City; in 1988, Japan; and in 1989, West Germany.
Kyrenia III
Following the 1988 visit to Japan, the Japanese National Television Organization N.H.K under the project management of executive producer Yasuji Hamagami constructed the second full size replica of the ship of Kyrenia. The ship was named "KYRENIA-3" and is normally exhibited at the Nautical museum of Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
or Hakata.
Kyrenia Liberty
In 2002, the construction of a third replica of the ship began. The ship was named ''Kyrenia Liberty''. It was built with respect for the original design but with modern techniques. The ship was ready for the 2004 Olympic Games
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
and set sail for Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
with a symbolic cargo of copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
to be used in the Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
bronze medals
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
. This cargo was symbolic since the name Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
is associated with the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word for "copper".
Symbolic meaning of the Kyrenia ships
The Kyrenia ship features on three of the Cypriot euro coins
Cypriot euro coins feature three separate designs for the three series of coins. Cyprus has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004, and is a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union. It has completed the third ...
: the 10, 20, and 50 cents.
See also
*Shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
*Ma'agan Michael Ship
The Ma'agan Michael Ship () is a well-preserved 5th-century BCE boat discovered off the coast of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, Israel, in 1985. The ship was excavated and its timber immersed in preservation tanks at the University of Haifa, undergoing ...
*Uluburun shipwreck
The Uluburun Shipwreck is a Late Bronze Age shipwreck dated to the late 14th century BC, discovered close to the east shore of Uluburun (Grand Cape), Turkey, in the Mediterranean Sea. The shipwreck was discovered in the summer of 1982 by Mehmed Ç ...
References
Further reading
* Casson, Lionel. ''Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times''. Austin, Texas. 109.
* Katzev, Susan Womer. “The Ancient Ship of Kyrenia, Beneath Cyprus Seas.” ''Great Moments in Greek Archaeology''. Ed. Pavos Valavanis and David Hardy. Oxford University Press, 2007. 286-99.
* Steffy, Richard J. "The Kyrenia Ship: An Interim Report on its Hull Construction." American Journal of Archaeology 38.1 (January 1985): 71-101.
* Steffy, Richard J., 1993, "Ancient Ship Repair", in Harry Tzalas (ed.), Tropis V: 5th International Symposium on Ship Construction in Antiquity, Nauplia, 26, 27, 28 August 1993: Proceedings, 395-408. Athens.
External links
The Kyrenia Shipwreck Collection Restoration Program
*
The Central Bank of Cyprus - regarding the design of Cypriot euro coins
Institute of Nautical Archaeology: No. 3/4 Fall/Winter 2002 for a tribute to Michael Katzev
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrenia Ship
Ancient Greek technology
Ancient shipwrecks
Archaeological discoveries in Cyprus
Archaeological discoveries in Europe
Archaeological sites in Cyprus
Ancient Cyprus
Merchant ships of Greece
Museums in Northern Cyprus
Replica ships
Ships of the Hellenistic period
Ships preserved in museums
Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea
Transport in Cyprus
4th-century BC artefacts
1965 archaeological discoveries