The Tantura F shipwreck: The ceramic material

The Tantura F shipwreck was discovered in the Dor/Tantura lagoon, Israel. Among the finds were about 30 ceramic items. The typology of the pottery assemblage dates it between the mid-7th and the end of the 8th centuries AD - the early Islamic period in the region. The ceramic assemblage is of major significance in the determination of the ship's period of construction. Petrography and chemical composition analyses of the ceramics indicate their origins in the Nile Delta, and in the piedmont of the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus or southern Turkey. Ovoid amphoras contained mainly fish bones. These may provide a clue to sailing routes and maritime trade along the Levant coast, between Egypt and Dor, including Cyprus or southern Turkey and may also indicate the existence of a community at Dor during that period.