ABSTRACT
Shipwrecks Despite the wealth of new information gained from studies of the Uluburun shipwreck and its cargo (most recently, Pulak 2008; 2009; Monroe 2007; 2009: 10-15; 2010), our understanding of the nature and forms of Bronze Age maritime transport remains limited, particularly in comparison with later periods. Moreover, some scholars are sceptical about whether wreck sites situated close to land and lacking wooden ship remains actually represent shipwrecks. Wachsmann (1998: 205; 2011: 17, n. 14), for example, questions whether the finds from Dokos (a small island in the Argo-Saronic Gulf) represent an Early Helladic wreck, or whether those from the Pseira islet (east Crete) indicate a Minoan shipwreck. Here it is worth emphasising that only the Bronze Age wrecks at Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun preserve any wooden remains of the actual ships. At Dokos, at least, the absence of an Early Helladic settlement on the promontory (Myti Kommeni) just above the wreck site, as well as the results of the geophysical survey (Yannis Lolos, pers. comm.), leave little doubt that the assemblage represents that of a shipwreck. Moreover, the area around the Saronic and Argolic Gulfs formed part of an important sea-lane of trading activity from the Early Bronze Age onward (Papageorgiou 2009: 214). At Pseira, the depth of the assemblage (at ˗45 m) points to a wreck rather than a dumping episode from the land site. In both cases, the excavators have suggested wreck deposits rather than dumping, which in our view means that these were assemblages of vessels transported on ships (see Figure 1 for all shipwreck sites mentioned in the text).
