Early Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea: Bitumen Harvesting and the Possible Use of Reed Watercraft

Asaf Oron; Ehud Galili; Gideon Hadas; Micha Klein

doi:10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2

Early Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea: Bitumen Harvesting and the Possible Use of Reed Watercraft

Asaf Oron, Ehud Galili, Gideon Hadas, Micha Klein

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Most studies of ancient maritime activity on the Dead Sea focus on the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine periods, for which a rich body of archaeological and historic data exists. However, finds of Dead Sea bitumen at distant prehistoric sites and an anchor dating to the seventh century BC indicate that maritime activity on the lake preceded the Greek and Roman periods, and raise questions regarding this activity’s origins and nature. By linking the exploitation of Dead Sea bitumen with the use of watercraft, and through consideration of a broader early maritime record of the ancient Near East, this study pushes back the dating of this activity on the lake and suggests the nature of its watercraft.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	65-88
Number of pages	24
Journal	Journal of Maritime Archaeology
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2
State	Published - 17 Apr 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The study was supported by an Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology Regional Research Grant at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, and by a Ph.D. scholarship from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa. Funding for field work has been generously provided over the years by RPM Nautical Foundation, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center. The authors thank the Israeli Antiquities Authority, B. Rosen for his valuable comments on the manuscript, and N. Külah for library assistance. They also acknowledge E. Raz, who discovered composite anchor b and shared its location with them. Finally thanks are due to the two reviewers whose comments have undoubtedly improved this article.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Keywords

Anchors
Bitumen
Dead Sea
Levant
Reed watercraft

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Archaeology

Access to Document

10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2

Cite this

@article{9060943401244470a73712be464eda6c,

title = "Early Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea: Bitumen Harvesting and the Possible Use of Reed Watercraft",

abstract = "Most studies of ancient maritime activity on the Dead Sea focus on the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine periods, for which a rich body of archaeological and historic data exists. However, finds of Dead Sea bitumen at distant prehistoric sites and an anchor dating to the seventh century BC indicate that maritime activity on the lake preceded the Greek and Roman periods, and raise questions regarding this activity{\textquoteright}s origins and nature. By linking the exploitation of Dead Sea bitumen with the use of watercraft, and through consideration of a broader early maritime record of the ancient Near East, this study pushes back the dating of this activity on the lake and suggests the nature of its watercraft.",

keywords = "Anchors, Bitumen, Dead Sea, Levant, Reed watercraft",

author = "Asaf Oron and Ehud Galili and Gideon Hadas and Micha Klein",

note = "Funding Information: The study was supported by an Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology Regional Research Grant at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, and by a Ph.D. scholarship from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa. Funding for field work has been generously provided over the years by RPM Nautical Foundation, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center. The authors thank the Israeli Antiquities Authority, B. Rosen for his valuable comments on the manuscript, and N. K{\"u}lah for library assistance. They also acknowledge E. Raz, who discovered composite anchor b and shared its location with them. Finally thanks are due to the two reviewers whose comments have undoubtedly improved this article. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.",

year = "2015",

month = apr,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

pages = "65--88",

journal = "Journal of Maritime Archaeology",

issn = "1557-2285",

publisher = "Springer New York",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Early Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea

T2 - Bitumen Harvesting and the Possible Use of Reed Watercraft

AU - Oron, Asaf

AU - Galili, Ehud

AU - Hadas, Gideon

AU - Klein, Micha

N1 - Funding Information: The study was supported by an Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology Regional Research Grant at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, and by a Ph.D. scholarship from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa. Funding for field work has been generously provided over the years by RPM Nautical Foundation, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center. The authors thank the Israeli Antiquities Authority, B. Rosen for his valuable comments on the manuscript, and N. Külah for library assistance. They also acknowledge E. Raz, who discovered composite anchor b and shared its location with them. Finally thanks are due to the two reviewers whose comments have undoubtedly improved this article. Publisher Copyright: © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

PY - 2015/4/17

Y1 - 2015/4/17

N2 - Most studies of ancient maritime activity on the Dead Sea focus on the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine periods, for which a rich body of archaeological and historic data exists. However, finds of Dead Sea bitumen at distant prehistoric sites and an anchor dating to the seventh century BC indicate that maritime activity on the lake preceded the Greek and Roman periods, and raise questions regarding this activity’s origins and nature. By linking the exploitation of Dead Sea bitumen with the use of watercraft, and through consideration of a broader early maritime record of the ancient Near East, this study pushes back the dating of this activity on the lake and suggests the nature of its watercraft.

AB - Most studies of ancient maritime activity on the Dead Sea focus on the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine periods, for which a rich body of archaeological and historic data exists. However, finds of Dead Sea bitumen at distant prehistoric sites and an anchor dating to the seventh century BC indicate that maritime activity on the lake preceded the Greek and Roman periods, and raise questions regarding this activity’s origins and nature. By linking the exploitation of Dead Sea bitumen with the use of watercraft, and through consideration of a broader early maritime record of the ancient Near East, this study pushes back the dating of this activity on the lake and suggests the nature of its watercraft.

KW - Anchors

KW - Bitumen

KW - Dead Sea

KW - Levant

KW - Reed watercraft

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925280130&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2

DO - 10.1007/s11457-015-9135-2

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84925280130

SN - 1557-2285

VL - 10

SP - 65

EP - 88

JO - Journal of Maritime Archaeology

JF - Journal of Maritime Archaeology

IS - 1

ER -

Early Maritime Activity on the Dead Sea: Bitumen Harvesting and the Possible Use of Reed Watercraft

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this