Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck
Gelidonya Burnu Batığı · Gelidonya Burnu Wreck · Cape Chelidonia Wreck · Late Bronze Age Gelidonya Ship
Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE)·Cypriot / Levantine itinerant tinker-trader·🇹🇷 Antalya, Chelidonian Islands off Cape Gelidonya, Turkey
About
About Cape Gelidonya Shipwreck
Second classic Late Bronze Age wreck (c. 1200 BCE) excavated 1960 by Peter Throckmorton and George Bass – the first complete scientific underwater excavation, pioneering archaeology's move underwater. Small 10 m sewn-plank trader carrying 1 t Cypriot copper ingots, tin bars, scrap bronze tools for recasting, sealstones, found 27–29 m deep on reef off Cape Gelidonya headland. Tin provenance controversy (Taurus vs Afghan) informs Bronze Age tin route debate. Cargo displayed with Uluburun at Bodrum.
Why it mattersMethodological milestone – Bass's 1960 excavation founded nautical archaeology as discipline; complementary to Uluburun as late-BA tin trade counterpart.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Tin source – Taurus Bolkardağ vs Central Asian Afghanistan route
Theories
- 01Itinerant smith/tinker hypothesis: crew sold scrap and fresh ingots port to port, not point-to-point freighter
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 1220–1200 BCE
- Period
- Late Bronze Age (c. 1200 BCE)
- Culture
- Cypriot / Levantine itinerant tinker-trader
- Purpose
- Scrap-bronze and ingot peddling around Aegean coast
- Abandoned
- Wrecked on Gelidonya reef
- Rediscovered
- 1958 Peter Throckmorton interview sponge divers; 1960 Bass excavation
- Excavation
- Excavated
1958
Journalist Throckmorton pinpoints wreck from diver interviews
1960
George Bass/INA first archaeological excavation underwater; establishes methodology
1990s
Re-excavation refines dating to ~1200 BCE with Mycenaean sherds
On the ground
Structures & features
36.1933° N · 30.4069° E · -27 m · 2 mapped features
Gelidonya Reef Wreck Mound
shipwreckMain ingot and scrap pile at 27 m on reef
36.1933° N · 30.4069° EBodrum Gelidonya Display
museumIngot and tool scatter reconstruction, Bodrum Castle
37.0318° N · 27.4290° E
Gallery