Shelley Wachsmann
I am fascinated by ships and the sea and how cultures interacted through them. My regional focus is mainly, although not solely, the eastern Mediterranean during its earlier formative period. The cultic use of ships—or their facsimiles—many of which never saw water beneath their hulls, intrigues me. Due to the paucity of actual shipwrecks from the times that most interest me, I have focused on the interpretation of ancient ship iconography. Around the turn of the millennium I became interested in the potential of deep-submergence archaeology.
My recent field projects reflect these interests. In 2002 I directed a paleo-environmental study of three possible Phoenician anchorages in Portugal. In 2003-2006, I directed the Canadian team of a joint Canadian-Greek expedition in search of fleets lost during the Persian War in the early fifth century B.C. and in 2007-2009 I led the Danaos Project, a deep-water survey studying the Crete-to-Egypt trade route in antiquity. Following a long fascination with the culture of Easter Island, in March 2012 I organized the first maritime remote-sensing survey of the crater lake of Rano Raraku and a survey of maritime aspects of the Rapanui Culture, in collaboration with Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg’s Easter Island Statue Project. Most recently, under the aegis of the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project and with the goal of better understanding the maritime dimensions of the port of Jaffa, Israel, I directed The 2014 Ioppa Maritima Project, which combined a geoarchaeological/geophysical land survey together with a deep-water Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) examination of multibeam survey anomalies at depths of 50-250 meters.
My fifth book (2013) deals with a wooden ship-cart model discovered in 1920 by W.M.F. Petrie at Gurob, in middle Egypt. The prototype of the Gurob model was clearly an Aegean-style galley—probably a pentakonter of a type used by both the Mycenaeans and the Sea Peoples. This model is the most detailed known representation of this galley type, for which no actual ships have been discovered. Put simply, if Helen’s face launched a thousand ships, this is the most detailed existent example of that ship type.
My sixth and most recent (2015) book is a short guide to seafaring on the Sea of Galilee in antiquity.
Phone: (979) 847-9257
Address: Nautical Archaeology Program
Department of Anthropology, Room 121
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4352
U.S.A.
My recent field projects reflect these interests. In 2002 I directed a paleo-environmental study of three possible Phoenician anchorages in Portugal. In 2003-2006, I directed the Canadian team of a joint Canadian-Greek expedition in search of fleets lost during the Persian War in the early fifth century B.C. and in 2007-2009 I led the Danaos Project, a deep-water survey studying the Crete-to-Egypt trade route in antiquity. Following a long fascination with the culture of Easter Island, in March 2012 I organized the first maritime remote-sensing survey of the crater lake of Rano Raraku and a survey of maritime aspects of the Rapanui Culture, in collaboration with Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg’s Easter Island Statue Project. Most recently, under the aegis of the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project and with the goal of better understanding the maritime dimensions of the port of Jaffa, Israel, I directed The 2014 Ioppa Maritima Project, which combined a geoarchaeological/geophysical land survey together with a deep-water Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) examination of multibeam survey anomalies at depths of 50-250 meters.
My fifth book (2013) deals with a wooden ship-cart model discovered in 1920 by W.M.F. Petrie at Gurob, in middle Egypt. The prototype of the Gurob model was clearly an Aegean-style galley—probably a pentakonter of a type used by both the Mycenaeans and the Sea Peoples. This model is the most detailed known representation of this galley type, for which no actual ships have been discovered. Put simply, if Helen’s face launched a thousand ships, this is the most detailed existent example of that ship type.
My sixth and most recent (2015) book is a short guide to seafaring on the Sea of Galilee in antiquity.
Phone: (979) 847-9257
Address: Nautical Archaeology Program
Department of Anthropology, Room 121
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4352
U.S.A.
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Books by Shelley Wachsmann
During an inspection dive in 1980 along Israel's Mediterranean coast off of Kibbutz Hahotrim, Shelley Wachsmann, then Inspector of Antiquities for the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (now the Israel Antiquities Authority), discovered artifacts on a section of seabed swept clear of sand by a storm. Scattered around two large stone anchors, the finds consisted primarily of small, broken, or damaged pieces of metal artifacts and ingots. Late Bronze-Age Metal Artifacts off Hahotrim, Israel comprises the careful analysis of the materials by Wachsmann and ten collaborators. Examination of the artifacts, along with the context in which they were found, suggests that-rather than being all that remains of an undiscovered ancient wreck-the artifacts may have found their way to the seabed as jetsam dumped overboard by a crew hoping to extricate their vessel from a sand bar or other obstruction. As Wachsmann notes, the discovery and study of this humble group of artifacts provides evidence of a vibrant culture of maritime commerce that existed in the world of the Late Bronze-Age Mediterranean prior to its collapse. Positing the existence of a "dynamic international period when a system of land and sea trade routes stretched from Sardinia in the west to Iran in the east, spanning roughly a tenth of the earth's circumference," this careful analysis adds important context to our evolving understanding of the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean world at a pivotal moment in history.
The virtual reality model and other associated materials related to the Gurob ship-cart model were specially created to accompany this book, and they are vital to making it both more understandable and more useful. These digital resources, created by Donald H. Sanders and the Institute for the Visualization ofHistory, Inc. (VIZIN), are available online at http://www.vizin.org/Gurob/Gurob.html
The reader is urged to make full use of them and also to noteA 2 in this volume, in which their development, applicability, and implications are discussed more fully, along with complete instructions for use.
Papers by Shelley Wachsmann
Tantura Lagoon is a rocky harbor on Israel’s shallow and sandy Mediterranean Carmel coast. For 4,000 years this island-fringed setting has served almost continuously as an anchorage for the nearby ancient mound of Tel Dor, the second largest ancient mound in Israel, and its environs. Quantities of stone anchors have been documented in the lagoon. During its three years (1994–1996) of exploration the INA/CMS Joint Expedition to Tantura Lagoon revealed previously-unknown stone anchors and anchor stocks. Because of the remarkable, almost ‘archaeological soup’-like conditions of the lagoon, which quickly buries any anthropogenic materials reaching it under a constantly shifting blanket of sand, some of the anchoring devices had distinct underwater stratigraphical contexts. This paper examines the artifacts themselves and the possible significances of their in-situ stratigraphic contexts.
The Greek deity Dionysos had a particular affinity for war
galleys, a relationship perhaps explained by the Homeric Hymn to
Dionysos in which Tyrsenian pirates kidnap him on their galley. Soon
grape vines entangle the rigging and some of the pirates attempt to
escape their fate by jumping into the sea: Dionysos transforms them
into dolphins. This hymn served as an occasional motif in pagan art
and may explain the miniaturized replicas of seagoing oared ships
that played an integral role in the ancient Dionysian cult. These flimsy
Dionysian ship carts moved overland in parades, either on wheels or
upon the shoulders of celebrants. While the earliest examples may date
to the Late Bronze Age, they are best known from a series of three late
Archaic-period representations on black-figure skyphoi, now in museums
in Athens, Bologna and London. No two Archaic-period Dionysian
ship-cart representations are identical in all details. While perhaps due
to painters’ whims, this diversity in appearance may reflect changes to
the ship carts at each annual appearance, analogous to modern-day parade
floats. Due to the two-dimensional nature of these ship-cart images,
it is impossible today to determine whether the Dionysian ship carts
reflected in them consisted of actual vessels—purpose-built and placed
on wagons during the procession, employed solely for the Dionysian
celebrations—or floats in the form of miniaturized galleys. This paper
supplies context and explains the process of creating a three-dimensional
digital reconstruction of a generic Late Archaic-period Dionysian
ship cart employing contemporaneous imagery and artifacts.
Recent excavations of Tel Yafo (Jaffa), Israel, underscore its role as an historically important Mediterranean port. In 2014, the Ioppa Maritima Project conducted a geological investigation determining that from ca. 5000–2000 years BP, a small estuarine system existed east and north of Tel Yafo that could have served as a harbour. The marine reentrant formed through sea-level rise and flooding of a small valley, and the stream mouth was probably also partially blocked by coastal sands. Sediment aggradation, wetland development, and anthropogenic activity largely filled the embayment leaving only a depression east of Tel Yafo in the area of Bloomfield Stadium and Groningen Park.
In the past six decades since its inception, nautical archaeologists have excavated and studied the hulls, cargoes, and other remains of ancient watercraft. However, shipwrecks themselves only tell part of the story. The archaeological record is replete with examples of known shipwrecks from some cultures and periods, but, for others, no hulls exist in the known archaeological record. Vagaries of preservation generally prevent the upper parts and rigging of a vessel to survive in all but the most remarkable of cases. This paper reviews the role of iconographic representations in understanding ancient vessels and seafaring by presenting the issues, examining the limitations, proposing interpretative methods for, and finally by supplying specific examples of, ancient nautical depictions.
During an inspection dive in 1980 along Israel's Mediterranean coast off of Kibbutz Hahotrim, Shelley Wachsmann, then Inspector of Antiquities for the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (now the Israel Antiquities Authority), discovered artifacts on a section of seabed swept clear of sand by a storm. Scattered around two large stone anchors, the finds consisted primarily of small, broken, or damaged pieces of metal artifacts and ingots. Late Bronze-Age Metal Artifacts off Hahotrim, Israel comprises the careful analysis of the materials by Wachsmann and ten collaborators. Examination of the artifacts, along with the context in which they were found, suggests that-rather than being all that remains of an undiscovered ancient wreck-the artifacts may have found their way to the seabed as jetsam dumped overboard by a crew hoping to extricate their vessel from a sand bar or other obstruction. As Wachsmann notes, the discovery and study of this humble group of artifacts provides evidence of a vibrant culture of maritime commerce that existed in the world of the Late Bronze-Age Mediterranean prior to its collapse. Positing the existence of a "dynamic international period when a system of land and sea trade routes stretched from Sardinia in the west to Iran in the east, spanning roughly a tenth of the earth's circumference," this careful analysis adds important context to our evolving understanding of the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean world at a pivotal moment in history.
The virtual reality model and other associated materials related to the Gurob ship-cart model were specially created to accompany this book, and they are vital to making it both more understandable and more useful. These digital resources, created by Donald H. Sanders and the Institute for the Visualization ofHistory, Inc. (VIZIN), are available online at http://www.vizin.org/Gurob/Gurob.html
The reader is urged to make full use of them and also to noteA 2 in this volume, in which their development, applicability, and implications are discussed more fully, along with complete instructions for use.
Tantura Lagoon is a rocky harbor on Israel’s shallow and sandy Mediterranean Carmel coast. For 4,000 years this island-fringed setting has served almost continuously as an anchorage for the nearby ancient mound of Tel Dor, the second largest ancient mound in Israel, and its environs. Quantities of stone anchors have been documented in the lagoon. During its three years (1994–1996) of exploration the INA/CMS Joint Expedition to Tantura Lagoon revealed previously-unknown stone anchors and anchor stocks. Because of the remarkable, almost ‘archaeological soup’-like conditions of the lagoon, which quickly buries any anthropogenic materials reaching it under a constantly shifting blanket of sand, some of the anchoring devices had distinct underwater stratigraphical contexts. This paper examines the artifacts themselves and the possible significances of their in-situ stratigraphic contexts.
The Greek deity Dionysos had a particular affinity for war
galleys, a relationship perhaps explained by the Homeric Hymn to
Dionysos in which Tyrsenian pirates kidnap him on their galley. Soon
grape vines entangle the rigging and some of the pirates attempt to
escape their fate by jumping into the sea: Dionysos transforms them
into dolphins. This hymn served as an occasional motif in pagan art
and may explain the miniaturized replicas of seagoing oared ships
that played an integral role in the ancient Dionysian cult. These flimsy
Dionysian ship carts moved overland in parades, either on wheels or
upon the shoulders of celebrants. While the earliest examples may date
to the Late Bronze Age, they are best known from a series of three late
Archaic-period representations on black-figure skyphoi, now in museums
in Athens, Bologna and London. No two Archaic-period Dionysian
ship-cart representations are identical in all details. While perhaps due
to painters’ whims, this diversity in appearance may reflect changes to
the ship carts at each annual appearance, analogous to modern-day parade
floats. Due to the two-dimensional nature of these ship-cart images,
it is impossible today to determine whether the Dionysian ship carts
reflected in them consisted of actual vessels—purpose-built and placed
on wagons during the procession, employed solely for the Dionysian
celebrations—or floats in the form of miniaturized galleys. This paper
supplies context and explains the process of creating a three-dimensional
digital reconstruction of a generic Late Archaic-period Dionysian
ship cart employing contemporaneous imagery and artifacts.
Recent excavations of Tel Yafo (Jaffa), Israel, underscore its role as an historically important Mediterranean port. In 2014, the Ioppa Maritima Project conducted a geological investigation determining that from ca. 5000–2000 years BP, a small estuarine system existed east and north of Tel Yafo that could have served as a harbour. The marine reentrant formed through sea-level rise and flooding of a small valley, and the stream mouth was probably also partially blocked by coastal sands. Sediment aggradation, wetland development, and anthropogenic activity largely filled the embayment leaving only a depression east of Tel Yafo in the area of Bloomfield Stadium and Groningen Park.
In the past six decades since its inception, nautical archaeologists have excavated and studied the hulls, cargoes, and other remains of ancient watercraft. However, shipwrecks themselves only tell part of the story. The archaeological record is replete with examples of known shipwrecks from some cultures and periods, but, for others, no hulls exist in the known archaeological record. Vagaries of preservation generally prevent the upper parts and rigging of a vessel to survive in all but the most remarkable of cases. This paper reviews the role of iconographic representations in understanding ancient vessels and seafaring by presenting the issues, examining the limitations, proposing interpretative methods for, and finally by supplying specific examples of, ancient nautical depictions.
Smith, C., D. Sakellariou, F. McCoy, et al., 2009. Deep Coral Environments South of Crete. In Proceedings of the 9th Hellenic Symposium on Oceanography & Fisheries, May 13-16, 2009, Patras, Greece. Athens, Association of Employees of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research: 665-668.
Abstract: Two metal ship models, one made of gold and the other of silver were found in the tomb of Ahhotep (I) together with a compatible four-wheel conveyance. The models remain unusual chronologically as well as in terms of their materials. The gold model represents a typical wood-planked Nilotic watercraft. The silver model appears to replicate a ten-oared Minoan/Cycladic vessel, best compared to the rowed ship in the ship-procession scene portrayed on the Miniature Frieze from the West House in Akrotiri on Thera. Additional support for this hypothesis comes from evidence for a long tradition of metal ship models in the Aegean. The silver model may be a copy of an actual ship or of a model of that type of watercraft. The models, as well as the accompanying carriage, are best explained in the context of Ahhotep’s tomb as booty captured during the attacks and conquest of Avaris (Tell el Dab‘a) by her sons, Kamose and Ahmose. If correct, this interpretation indicates a Minoan presence at Tell el Dab‘a during Hyksos rule. The silver crew that row the gold model, but which are not original to it, presume a third, now lost, larger silver ship model.
RadioCIAMS: Shelley Wachsmann on deep-submergence archaeology and wheeled ships
On November 12, 2014 Texas A&M University nautical archaeologist Shelley Wachsmann met with a panel of students (Brita Lorentzen, Carrie Fulton, Xan Stepp) and faculty (Sturt Manning, Chris Monroe) to discuss deep-submergence archaeology and the overland, ritualized transport of ships in antiquity. The panel prepared by reading Dr. Wachsmann’s chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology and attending his AIA lecture the evening prior. The recorded conversation of around 53 minutes opens in the link below.