Bronze Age Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Deep Water Late Bronze Age Wreck off Israeli Coast

In 2023, a late bronze age wreck was found in deep water about ninety kilometres off the north coast of Israel. Its cargo consisted of hundreds of Canaanite jars.

By Nick Nutter | Last Updated 2024-09-2 | Bronze Age Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

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Canaanite Jars from deep sea wreck

Where was the Wreck Found

The 3,300-year-old shipwreck was found 90 km from Israel’s northern coast at a depth of 1.8 kilometres on the Mediterranean Sea floor.

Who excavated the shipwreck?

The discovery was made in 2023 during an environmental survey of the seabed by a team from London-based natural gas production company Energean. The survey involved the use of an advanced submersible robot that found a ‘large pile of jugs’ heaped on the seafloor.

The jugs turned out to be late bronze age Canaanite jars that were used to transport wine, oil and fruit.

Due to the depth of the wreck, it is impracticable to use divers so any future surveys will have to be conducted remotely.

When did the wreck sink?

The design of the jars that made up the cargo indicate the wreck is some 3300 years old, so the date of sinking could have been about 1300 BC, roughly contemporaneous with the Uluburun wreck.

How was the ship built and what were its dimensions?

The robot’s survey and mapping of the site clarified this to be a sunken ship about 12 to 14 metres long. The wooden structure of the wreck is submerged beneath the mud of the seafloor.

What was the ship’s cargo?

The cargo consisted of hundreds of distinctively shaped amphorae known as Canaanite jars. The jars could have contained wine, oil, grain, fruit or any other mass-produced product.

Two of the jars were raised to the surface for further research.

Where did the cargo come from?

The design of the jars indicate the ship loaded in one of the ports on the Canaan coast, perhaps Tyre or, further north, Byblos.

Where did the ship come from and where was it going?

The wreck site is on a direct route between the northern Israeli coast and the Nile delta. It is likely that this was one of the regular maritime trade routes between Egypt and its vassal states in the Lebanon.