Shipwrecks of the distant past

By Amal Hewavissenti

For thousands of years, ships of all types have travelled the seas and oceans. Tragic enough, a number of such ships carrying slaves, warriors, gold, wine jugs, tourists and automobiles have gone down in to the ocean depths instead of reaching their respective destinations. They have sunk in to the deep oceans taking with them all that they were carrying.

Sunken ships may hold treasure of varied kinds such as gold coins, rubies and emeralds that may illustrate the way people lived in the past. The basic learning from shipwrecks lies in the careful study and observation of the sites and their contents by nautical archaeologists. However shipwrecks provide fascinating glimpses into the past.

Strange objects

In 1983, a joint American - Turkish team went to investigate the strange objects lying half-buried in the sea near Ulu Burun, a cape near Southern Turkey. The scientists discovered large copper ingots with ear-shaped handles and also found parts of a hull which had carried the ingots. After much study, the scientists came to an exciting realisation that the wreck would perhaps be the oldest ship ever excavated.

Their research reports show that cargo from at least seven countries had gone down with the ship. The scientist had mapped and photographed the whole site in detail for future study before a single object was removed from the wreckage.

At the final stage of the project which began in 1984, the team of nautical archaeologists managed to assemble a priceless collection of late Bronze Age artefacts produced between 1600 BC and 1050 BC. The cargo of the wrecked ship originated largely in the eastern Mediterranean countries - a powerful clue to conclude that the ship was west bound when the disaster struck.

They discovered that the ship was carrying raw materials such as glass, wood, ivory, tin and about six tons of copper ingots which were adequate (when mixed with tin) to equip a small army with bronze weapons. The archaeologists also uncovered the oldest known notebook which was an ivory hinged tablet with wax surfaces for writing. All these artefacts uncovered from the wreck made the nautical archaeologists to deduce that the sinking had occurred some 1350 years before the birth of Christ.

The sinking represented a financial disaster for unknown merchants in the Bronze Age and the experts studying the wreck have pieced together its story. Cemal Pulak, the nautical archaeologists rightly remarks. "The wreck off Ulu Burun is a slice of history frozen in time".

In the depths off Ulu Burun, an archaeologist found a real prize - a bronze sword of a type carried by wealthy men of the period as experts say. Perhaps the "captain of the Ulu Burun Ship" might have kept it in possession to fight off pirates or the weapon may have belonged to a travelling merchant.

The sea can separate countries and also join them. The sea was a barrier or an international highway on which goods and varied cultures were traded and disseminated.

Caligula's pleasure barges

Caligula, emperor of Rome in the first century AD, was definitely strange, perhaps insane and his cruelty made him a legend. He claimed to be a god and sometimes ordered criminals to be food for wild animals in the sports arena as ancient biographers report.

Caligula obviously had a great penchant for high standard of living and immediately after becoming the emperor of Rome, he ordered the construction of two "floating palaces" (to be built probably at public expense).

It is totally obscure whether Caligula ever invited the public aboard and it is believed, however, that the barges served mainly for his personal pleasure. The vessels were equipped with splendid court yards, magnificent banquet rooms and luxurious baths with an army of servants employed to serve at the snap of a finger. They were a luxury in Roman style.

In AD 41, emperor Caligula was assassinated and his barges at some unknown time sank in Lake Nemi, outside the kingdom of Rome. For centuries people living near Lake Nemi were aware that the ancient vessels lay motionless on the lake bottom. In 1928, however, Italy's leader Benito Mussolini ordered Lake Nemi drained in an attempt to raise the wrecked ships.

Roman luxury

The project of locating the wreckage took up several years until finally the hulls of the ships became visible. They were restored and placed on public display in a museum near Lake Nemi. Yet, in the heat of world war II, the hulls were destroyed by a conflagration.

Emperor Caligula had a taste for high living. A rare painting of the "floating palaces" of Caligula shows the emperor entertaining aboard one of his pleasure barges before the great catastrophe.

The painting shows visitors lounging on couches are enjoying a meal in a richly furnished banquet room. The food was the choicest in Rome during the period.

After the meal, the guests could stroll through any of the several court yards which had, as centrepieces elegant fountains and statues.

Running water was piped throughout the barges and guests could, on their wish, take a relaxing bath in their choice of pools before retiring to their bed rooms for the night.

The scenes of the painting are based on writings of the time, on artefacts found at the bottom of the Lake Nemi and on knowledge of Roman architecture. Experts are of the view that this painting offers a reasonably accurate idea of the high life on board Caligula's pleasure barges. Now the barges exist only in drawings and old photographs and in the imagination.