The things found on board the Uluburun wreck give us lots of information on lots of topics. They are a time capsule of life over 3,000 years ago.
We’ve learnt how the ship was made – they built the outer hull first, then added the framing skeleton inside using mortise-and-tenon joints, which lock together like LEGO®.
Replica of the Uluburun, sunk to become an underwater museum. Photo from Helmut Corneli
We also know where the crew were from – personal items like tools, weapons and oil lamps show they came from Southern Levant (today’s Israel and Syria).
And its cargo tells us loads about Bronze Age life, including trade, technology, manufacturing, international relations, tools, weapons and musical instruments.
One amazing find was the earliest notebook in human history. The ivory-hinged boxwood book, called a diptych, would have had wax on its wooden pages to write on. Before this find, the earliest notebook was from around 600 years later.
Earliest notebook. Photo from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology