Clay models of Phoenician vessels in the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa, Israel

Abstract

Two clay models of boats have recently been added to the collection of the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa. The models are of rowing boats, with three and five pairs of oarsmen respectively. They probably represent harbour service boats or ceremonial sailings near a harbour. Their analysis is based on similar artefacts found underwater along the same coast and related to the same Phoenician culture. The origin of the artefacts is apparently from close to Tyre, and they can be dated to the 5th century BCE. They may have been from a templefavissa.

Shipwreck or Sunken Votives? The Shavei Zion Assemblage Revisited

“…Jacobson, 1975: 256–258) 5 . Boat models found on the seabed off the coasts of Phoenicia and Cyprus, as well as the Salt Lake of Larnaka and Lake Bardawill in Egypt, have long been considered to be votive offerings meant to appease the gods and ensure safe travels in the Mediterranean (Basch, 1976: 62; 1999; Brody, 1998: 40, 76; Raban and Kahanov, 2003; López‐Bertan, et al ., 2008: 347; Galili and Rosen, 2015: 90–91; Karageorghis et al ., 2016: 122). However, figurines and other cultic objects were apparently not the only artefacts used as offerings cast into the sea.…”

“…Although no remains of a ship were noted, save for a lead weight likely belonging to an anchor, which is difficult to date, Linder suggested this was the cargo of a sunken ship dated to the 5th century BCE (Linder, 1986: 411). Further interpretations first put forth by Culican (1976), and followed by others (Raban and Kahanov, 2003: 67; Sheizaf, 2003; Castellvi et al ., 2007: 91; Artzy and Sheizaf, 2019), suggested that the site either represents a cultic favissa deposited to the seabed, or that individual figurines were cast into the sea as votive offerings as part of rituals meant to secure divine protection from the turbulent waters of the Mediterranean during the Persian period. The latter theories, although they have gained some traction in recent years, were largely overlooked in the literature and Linder's hypothesis was widely, yet cautiously, accepted, despite the fact that the excavation was never fully published (Basch, 1999: 62; Stieglitz, 1990; Raban, 1993: 958; Betlyon, 2005: 29; Galili and Rosen, 2015: 37–38).…”

“…Astonishingly, the site has never been fully published. Even more surprising is the fact that a large portion of the assemblage, including both ceramic vessels and terracotta figurines, were never registered with the Department of Antiquities, currently known as the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), and were thus unknown to past scholars who dealt with the Shavei Zion finds (such as Culican, 1976; Raban and Kahanov, 2003: 67; Sheizaf, 2003; Castellvi et al ., 2007: 91; Artzy and Sheizaf, 2019; see Table 1). These finds were located in a storage room of the Underwater Exploration Society of Israel (UESI) at the National Maritime Museum (NMM) and appear here alongside the rest of the assemblage for the first time.…”

“…These analyses indicate that some of them originate from the area between Tyre and Sidon, some from the area between Rosh HaNiqra (the ladder of Tyre) and Akko, and others originate from another location, or locations, which could not be determined at the time (Raban, 1980: 140–148, 166, pls. E‐3, G‐2; Raban and Kahanov, 2003: 69; Sheizaf, 2003: 47). The thickness of the walls of the figurines varies from thick to delicate, which may indicate they were produced in different eras, as figurines with thicker walls tend to predate the Hellenistic period.…”

A Newly Acquired Ancient Ship-model in Kassel, Germany

“…One of these, T832, is the subject of this note in the hope that this may prompt further scholarly interest and discussion. Both models are valuable additions to the corpus of ancient ship‐models (Göttlicher, 1978; Johnston, 1985; Raban and Kahanov, 2003). The authenticity of T832 has been proved by a Berlin laboratory, but the sample of only 50 mg of clay was insufficient for a convincing thermoluminescence dating (18 BC to AD 298) 1 .…”