Findings from 2,000-year-old Uluburun Shipwreck Reveal Complex Trade Network – ScienceDaily

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More than 2,000 years before the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, another famous ship was wrecked in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast east of Uluborun – in present-day Turkey – carrying tons of rare minerals. Since its discovery in 1982, scientists have been studying the contents of the Uluburun shipwreck to gain a better understanding of the people and political organizations that dominated the time period known as the late

Now, a team of scientists, including Michael Frachetti, Professor of Archeology of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has made a surprising discovery: Small communities of highland pastoralists living in present-day Uzbekistan in Central Asia produce and supply nearly One-third of the tin on board – tin that was on its way to markets around the Mediterranean to be turned into the desirable bronze metal.

The research was published November 30 in Science advancesthrough advances in geochemical analyzes that have enabled the researchers to determine with a high level of certainty that some of the tin originated from a prehistoric mine in Uzbekistan, more than 2,000 miles from Haifa, where the stricken ship loaded its cargo.

But, how could that be? During this period, the mining regions of Central Asia were occupied by small communities of highland pastoralists – far from a major industrial center or empire. And the terrain between the two sites – which runs through Iran and Mesopotamia – was rough, which would have made it very difficult to pass tons of heavy minerals.

Frachetti and other archaeologists and historians were enlisted to help put the pieces of the puzzle together. Their findings revealed a shockingly complex supply chain that involved multiple steps to transport tin from the small mining community to the Mediterranean market.

“It appears that these local miners had access to extensive international networks and – through overland trade and other forms of contact – were able to pass this very important commodity all the way to the Mediterranean,” Frachetti said.

“It is truly amazing to learn that a culturally diverse, multi-regional, multi-sectoral trade system supported the exchange of tin between Eurasia during the Late Bronze Age.”

Adding to the mystery is the fact that the mining industry appears to have been run by small-scale communities or free workers who negotiated this market outside the control of kings, emperors, or other political organizations, according to Frachetti.

“To put it in perspective, this would be the trading equivalent of the entire United States getting its energy needs from small backyard oil rigs in central Kansas,” he said.

About search

The idea of ​​using tin isotopes to locate the metal in artifacts dates back to the mid-1990s, according to Wayne Powell, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Brooklyn College and lead author on the study. However, the analysis techniques and methods were not accurate enough to provide clear answers. It was only in the past few years, he said, that scientists began using isotopes of tin to directly link mining sites to groups of metal artifacts.

“Over the past two decades, scientists have gathered information about the isotopic composition of cassiterite deposits around the world, their ranges and overlaps, and the natural mechanisms by which isotopic compositions were transferred to cassiterite when it formed,” Powell said. “We are still in the early stages of this study. I expect that in the coming years, the database of ore deposits will become very robust, such as that of Pb isotopes today, and the method will be used routinely.”

Aslihan K. Yener, a research associate at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and professor emeritus of archeology at the University of Chicago, was one of the first researchers to perform the principal isotope analyses. In the 1990s, Yener was part of a research team that conducted the first major isotopic analysis of Uluburun tin. This analysis indicates that Uluburun’s tin may have come from two sources – the Kestel mine in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains and some unspecified sites in Central Asia.

“But this was ignored because the analysis measured trace lead and did not target the origin of tin,” said Yener, a co-author of the current study.

Yener was also the first to discover tin in Turkey in the 1980s. At the time, she said, the entire academic community was surprised to find it was there, right under their noses, that the first tin bronzes appeared.

Nearly 30 years later, researchers finally have a more definitive answer thanks to advanced tin isotope analysis techniques: One-third of the tin on the Uluburun shipwreck was obtained from the Mušiston mine in Uzbekistan. The remaining two-thirds of the tin is mined from the Kestel mine in ancient Anatolia, in present-day Turkey.

The findings provide a glimpse into life more than 2,000 years ago

By 1500 BC, bronze was “high technology” in Eurasia, used for everything from weapons to luxury items, tools, and utensils. Bronze is mainly made of copper and tin. While copper is fairly common and can be found throughout Eurasia, tin is very rare and only found in certain types of geological deposits, Frachetti said.

“Finding tin was a huge problem for prehistoric nations. Thus, the big question was how the great Bronze Age empires fueled their massive demand for bronze given the lengths and pains of obtaining tin as a rare commodity. Researchers have tried to explain this for decades.”

The Uluburun ship produced the largest collection of bronze ore ore ever found in the world – enough copper and tin to yield 11 metric tons of bronze of the highest quality. Had it not been lost at sea, Frachetti said, the mineral would have been enough to equip a force of about 5,000 Bronze Age soldiers with swords, “not to mention plenty of wine jugs.”

“The present findings illustrate an evolving international trade process that involved regional actors and socially diverse participants who produced and traded solid commodities during the late Bronze Age political economy from Central Asia to the Mediterranean,” Frachetti said.

Unlike the mines in Uzbekistan, which were set within a network of small villages and mobile herders, the mines in ancient Anatolia during the Late Bronze Age were controlled by the Hittites, a global imperial power with a major threat to Ramesses the Great. Weiner explained.

The results also show that life more than 2,000 years ago was no different than it is today.

“With the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, we have become aware of how we rely on complex supply chains to maintain our economy, our military, and our standard of living,” Powell said. This is also true in prehistory. Kingdoms rose and fell, climatic conditions changed and new peoples migrated across Eurasia, which could disrupt or redistribute access to tin, which was needed for both weapons and agricultural tools.

“Using tin isotopes, we can look across each of these archaeological disturbances evident in society and see the connections broken, maintained or redefined. We already have DNA analysis to show the relational connections. Pottery, funerary practices, etc., illustrate transmission and communication of ideas.” Now with isotopes of tin, we can document the connectivity and sustainability of long-distance trade networks.”

More clues to explore

The current research findings settle decades-old debates about the origins of the metal in the Uluburun shipwreck and the tin exchange in Eurasia during the Late Bronze Age. But there are still more clues to explore.

After being mined, the metals were processed for shipment and eventually melted into standardized shapes—known as ingots—for transportation. Frachetti said the bars’ distinctive shapes served as calling cards for merchants as to where they originated from.

Many of the ingots on the Uluburun ship were in the form of “oxide skin”, which was once thought to have originated in Cyprus. However, the present findings indicate that the oxide form of the oxide could have originated in the Far East. Frachetti said he and other researchers plan to continue studying the bars’ unique shapes and how they are used in commerce.

In addition to Frachetti and Paul Weiner, the following researchers contributed to the current study: Jamal Polakat at Texas A&M University, Arthur Pankoff at Brooklyn College, Jojko Barjamović at Harvard University, Michael Johnson at the Steel Environmental Foundation, Ryan Mathur at Juniata College, Vincent C. Piggott at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Michael Price at the Santa Fe Institute.

The study was funded in part by a Congressional Professional Research Award at the City University of New York, as well as a research grant from the Aegean Prehistory Institute.

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