Mediterranean Maritime Archaeology

The study of wrecks and submerged sites in the Mediterranean, the discipline’s birthplace. George Bass’s excavation of the Cape Gelidonya (about 1200 BC) and Uluburun (about 1300 BC) Bronze Age wrecks off Turkey established systematic underwater excavation and the field at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. The Kyrenia ship (about 300 BC, Cyprus) and the Roman Madrague de Giens wine carrier are standard reference wrecks. Amphora typologies and dendrochronology, developed largely on Mediterranean material, date and source much of the world’s wreck record.