Ancient Mediterranean

Digital Project

Fragmentary ship

Cat. No.

L14

Date

terminus ante quem of ca. 1200 B.C.

Findspot

Tel Dor, Israel

Dimensions

H: 28.5 cm; max. W: 11.5 cm

Medium

Ashlar stone relief found in secondary use in a Hellenistic city wall

Accession Number

References

Knapp 2019: 126; Wachsmann 1998: 48-49, fig. 3.11; Wachsmann and Raveh 1984a: 224, 228

Fragmentary ship preserving parts of the hull and rigging towards the bow section. The keel line consists of two parallel lines that rise in a smooth curve. Wachsmann reads the two straight horizontal lines above it as the sheerstrake, above which is a ladder motif made up of a broad horizontal band intersected by vertical lines which is plausibly a fence similar to that depicted on the Kenamun and Nebamun ships. The rigging is of the boom-footed type and has multiple lifts, which would give it a terminus ante quem of ca. 1200 B.C.

The block was reused, hence nothing is known of its original context.

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

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

Wachsmann, S. and K. Raveh. 1984a. “A concise nautical History of Dor/ Tantura,” IJNA 13: 223-41.

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