The Bronze Age Ship of Dreams
The Uluburun shipwreck reveals the luxurious lifestyles of the ancient elite
In 1982, on the West coast of Turkey, a young diver found what he described as “metal biscuits with ears,” in one of the first dives he ever made. The initial description intrigued his captain, and he realized the diver had discovered something valuable.
They did not know they had stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. The “metal biscuits with ears” were ox-hide copper ingots from the Bronze Age.
The director of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology dispatched an inspection team, which discovered several copper ingots.
The find caught the eye of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University. They had sent photos of copper ingots to the captain of the diving expedition.
The novice diver had stumbled upon the Uluburun shipwreck, the world’s oldest known shipwreck.
Copper ingots weren’t the only things found in the wreckage. The ship was a Bronze Age Titanic, brimming with luxury items. The Uluburun shipwre…
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