Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Ship model

Cat. No.

C15

Date

LC I/II

Findspot

Enkomi, unknown context (tomb ?)

Dimensions

L: 18 cm;

beam amidships: 6 cm;

height amidships: 4 cm;

height from gunwale to top of stem: 5.5 cm

Medium

terracotta model. Grey clay with no painted decoration. Some damage to hull

Accession Number

Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels A 1240

References

Basch 1987: 73-74, no. 146; Dolan 2023: 339-342, no. 12; Gray 1974: G.20, 61; Göttlicher 1977: 35, no. 150, pl. 9; Knapp 2019: 142, no. 4; Merrillees 1968: 188, pl. 37:1; Wachsmann 1998: 50-51, fig. 3.15; Westerberg 1983: 15, 83, fig. 9

Crescent shaped hull with high, symmetrical vertical posts ending in a flat, undecorated top. The external edge of the posts is slightly concave, which is typical for Syro-Canaanite ships. There are no interior fittings. Faint traces of two bands of paint on one side of the hull that were not noted in previous publications.

Although uncertain, it is thought that the model is from Enkomi. The relatively good level of preservation suggests that it probably came from a tomb.

The ship bears resemblance to later boat models from Achziv, but Enkomi’s abandonment at the end of the Late Bronze Age argues against an early Iron Age date. The model depicts a mnš ship, a beamy merchant vessel of Levantine origin that is attested for over a millennium, from the 18th to the 7th century B.C. in the Levant itself, but also on Cyprus and in Egypt.

Basch, L. 1987. Le musée imaginaire de la marine antique. Athens: Institut Hellénique pour la preservation de la tradition nautique.

Dolan, M. 2023. Ceci n'est pas un bateau: Reassessing terracotta boat models in Late Bronze and Iron Age Cyprus. University of Southhampton. Unpublished DPhil Thesis.

Göttlicher, A. 1978. Materialien für ein Korpus der Schiffsmodelle im Altertum. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

Gray, D. 1974, Seewesen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.

Knapp, A. B. 2018. Seafaring and Seafarers in the Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean. Leiden: Sidestone Press.

Merrillees, R. S. 1968. The Cypriote Bronze Age Pottery Found in Egypt (SIMA 18). Göteborg.

Wachsmann, S. 1998. Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.

Westerberg, K. 1983. Cypriote Ships from the Bronze Age to c. 500 B.C. (SIMA, Pocket-books, 22). Göteborg: P. Åströms förlag.

  • 3D Model View

  • Side A

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  • Side B

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  • Stempost three quarter view

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  • Stempost

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  • Top view

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  • Hull bottom view

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