This book is a developed, revised, and updated form of my Ph.D. dissertation, submitted to the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in 1989. I owe a particular debt of appreciation for the help and guidance of my dissertation advisors and mentors, Trude Dothan and George F. Bass. To Professor Bass I owe a special thanks for proposing that I turn the dissertation into a book; I am sincerely grateful for his encouragement to do so and for his advice and financial support in seeing this book become a reality.
The writing of my dissertation was made possible by generous grants. For this assistance I sincerely thank the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, particularly its director, Jerry Hochbaum; and the Sarah Rabinovitch Fund. I wrote this book while serving as the Meadows Visiting Assistant Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program. I am grateful to Professor Bass, to the Meadows Foundation of Dallas, to the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, and to Texas A&M University for making this possible. I also thank my parents for their encouragement and assistance during the writing process.
The Uluburun shipwreck is without doubt the single most significant key to understanding Bronze Age seafaring. I have profited greatly from discussions with George Bass and Cemal Pulak. I thank them both for their insights into Bronze Age seafaring, for permitting me to take a small part in their excavation at Uluburun during the 1985 and 1986 seasons, and for their kind permission to publish illustrations from their excavation here.
In a book that deals with such a wide range of cultures and topics, it was inevitable that I would seek advice from experts in various fields of research. I was gratified to discover an openness and unstinting willingness in all the scholars whom I approached to share their knowledge and insights with me. My warm appreciation goes to Amnon Altman for his valuable comments on the Ahhiyawa problem; to Lucien Basch for kindly supplying me with a photo of the Karnak anchor; to Jacqueline Balensi, who told me about the Tel Abu Hawam anchors; to Emmett L. Bennett and John Chadwick for their valuable comments on topics relating to Linear B documents; to Lionel Casson for advising me on numerous nautical matters; to Brenda Conrad for bringing to my attention several important publications on the subject of Minoan archaeology and religion; to Fanouria Dakoronia for permitting me to use illustrations of her discoveries from Kynos in this book; to Michael Fitzgerald for our many stimulating discussions; to Honor Frost and Gerhard Kapitän for sharing with me their understanding of anchors and rigging; to Cheryl Haldane for her insights and comments concerning ancient Egyptian ship construction; to Maria Jacobsen for her assistance with aspects of Ugaritic trade; to Barbara Johnson for her valuable comments on the Late Helladic IIIC lb sherd from Ashkelon; to Paul Johnston for supplying several illustrations; to V. Karageorghis for his comments concerning the abandonment of Kalavassos; to Christine Lilyquist for information on the tomb of Iniwia; to Ezra Marcus for bringing the Tell el Dabca seal to my attention; to Robert Merrillees for noting the bird-head ship model fragment from Maroni; to Bezallel Porten for supplying me with his revised translation of Elephantine text Cowley 26 (B12) and permitting me to publish it here; to Anson Rainey for his many important insights into many of the texts studied here; to Joe and Maria Shaw for supplying me with information and illustrations on the stone composite anchors from their excavation at Kommos; to Patricia Sibella for a variety of help; to Larry Stager for referring me to the Kamose text and for his many other insightful comments; to J. Richard Steffy for sharing with me his unique perspective on ancient ship construction and his incomparable knowledge of ancient ships; to Frederick van Doorninck, Jr., for his knowledgeable comments; to Michael Wedde for his penetrating comments on the Aegean iconographic material; to Malcolm H. Weiner for reviewing the Aegean chapters and for making numerous valuable suggestions; and to physical anthropologist Joe Zias for his observations on the Anemosphilia material.
As work progressed on the manuscript, it became clear to me that the book would be enhanced by the contributions of other scholars. My sincere thanks go to Frederick Hocker for discussing the question of keels on Hatshepsut’s Punt ships as well as for writing the glossary of seafaring terms; to John Lenz for writing an appendix on the question of bird-head ship ornaments in Homer; to Thomas G. Palaima for his commentary on PY An 724 and An 1 as well as for his translation of the latter; and to J. Hoftijzer and Wilfred van Soldt for their translations of the primary Ugaritic and Akkadian texts pertaining to seafaring from Ugarit.
My study of the ship graffiti at Rod el ᶜAir was made possible by the gracious permission of the late Raphael Giveon of the Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. Professor Giveon invited me to take part in his 1972 archaeological survey at Serabit el Khadem and its surroundings and later permitted me to publish the results of my study of the ships from Rod el ᶜAir. My thanks goes to Benjamin Sass, then assistant district archaeologist of Sinai, for his help at that time.
I received much welcome assistance in researching the shfifonim of the Sea of Galilee region: the late Pesah Bar Adon, Dan Bahat, Amitzur Bolodo, Moshe Kochavi, the brothers Moshele and Yuval Lufan, and, of course, Mendel Nun. Special thanks are due to Uzi Avner for his penetrating comments on the cultic connotations of the Degania “A” tomb, and to Yizhar Hirschfeld for inviting me to study the fascinating shfifon uncovered in his excavations at Mount Berenice.
I have also learned from my students. My heartfelt appreciation goes particularly to Kyra Bowling for her artwork; to Steven Butler for his assistance during the final stages of the manuscript prior to its publication; to William H. (Bill) Charlton for his valuable editing skills and insightful comments; to Roxani Margariti for making me rethink old interpretations; to Sam Mark for his aid in tracking down obscure references; to Edward Rogers for his comments on the scenes of ship construction in the Old Kingdom tombs of Tí and Mereruka; and to Sam Turner for our stimulating conversations on the Ahhiyawa problem.
We now live in an amazing electronic age. The Internet allows the instantaneous sharing of information among scholars around the globe. Numerous lists deal with archaeological topics. Of these, I have been following the discussions on “Aegeanet,” which is owned and operated by John G. Younger. This list has been particularly valuable and stimulating for me in doing this research. I thank Professor Younger and his host of contributors for enabling me to follow developments in the world of Aegean archaeology through their communications.
My past six years at Texas A&M University have been particularly valuable for me. I have had the opportunity to discuss many of the problems dealt with in the following pages with the other faculty of the Nautical Archaeology Program, who are among the foremost experts in the fields of nautical archeology and ancient ship reconstruction. I have learned much from them. Robert K. Vincent, Jr., past president of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, was a source of encouragement. The staff of the program and of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Becky Holloway, Claudia LeDoux, Clyde Reese, and Pat Turner have been most helpful to me in a variety of ways. I thank them all.
I am grateful to the staff at Texas A&M University Press for their considerable efforts in seeing this book through the long and arduous path of publication.
Finally, it is my pleasure to thank Karen, my soul mate, for her endless patience, for her unstinting support, and for her excellent editing skills from all of which I—and this book—have greatly benefited.