Abstract
Ongoing excavations of the Maʻagan Mikhael B shipwreck have revealed the largest maritime cargo assemblage of Byzantine and Early Islamic ceramics discovered along the Israeli coast to date. Dated between the mid-7th and the mid-8th century CE, the nearly 20-metre-long shipwreck has yielded a cargo of various types of amphorae, including the Late Roman amphora (LRA) types LR 1, LR 2/globular amphorae, LR 4, and LR 5, several bearing inscriptions or dipinti. Some of the jars had stoppers of leather, stone and ceramic, and contained remains of various preserved foodstuffs. The significance of the cargo amphorae is relevant to the discussion of maritime trade networks during the late 7th and early 8th centuries in the Palestinian region, specifically, the information on inter-regional contacts and exchange during the transitional period between the Byzantine and Islamic eras.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 105-120 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Levant |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2 Jan 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The underwater excavations (IAA permits G-14/2016, G-40/2017 and G-26/2018) and research of the Ma‘agan Mikhael B shipwreck are supported by the Israel Science Foundation [grant no. 1891/16], the Honor Frost Foundation, a Rotary Scholarship, a Haifa Centre for Mediterranean History Scholarship, the Research Authority of the University of Haifa, Kibbutz Ma‘agan Mikhael and anonymous donors, to whom the authors are grateful.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, © Council for British Research in the Levant 2020.
Keywords
- Early Islamic
- Mediterranean
- amphorae
- inscriptions
- shipwreck
- trade
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Archaeology
- History
- Archaeology