Res Maritimae: Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean from Prehistory to Late Antiquity.

• Author: CLINE, ERIC H.
• Position: Review

Res Maritimae: Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean from Prehistory to Late Antiquity. Edited by STUART SWINY, ROBERT L. HOHLFELDER, and HELENA WYLDE SWINY. Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute Monograph Series, vol. 1; American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports, no. 4. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1997. Pp. viii + 372, numerous figures. $74.95.

The twenty-six papers in this interesting volume stem from a conference held in October 1994 at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus. The occasion was the second scholarly gathering of the international symposium "Cities on the Sea." The volume "continues the study of port cities as gateways to land and sea transportation systems through which moved the people, trade and ideas of antiquity" (p. viii). The "matters maritime" stretch from the early Holocene to the Roman period and from the Eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus to Mainland Greece. The issues examined by the numerous contributions include trade, marine archaeology, ship iconography, harbor technology, eustatic change, exploitation of raw materials, and shipwrecks.

Of particular interest is C. Pulak's study, "The Uluburun Shipwreck" (pp. 233-62), as it gives the most recent specific details on the numerous finds from the Uluburun excavations. Pulak suggests ca. 1320-1295 B.C. for the transition from LH IIIA2 to LH IIIB1 pottery (p. 250) and dates the sinking of the ship itself at just after 1306 (p. 257). Y. Vichos' and Y. Lolos' welcome contribution, "The Cypro-Mycenaean Wreck at Point Iria in the Argolic Gulf: First Thoughts on the Origin and the Nature of the Vessel" (pp. 321-37), is the first major presentation in English on this important site. The results presented in this paper concern the 1991 through 1994 excavation seasons. Finds include Late Cypriot IIC/IIIA Late Minoan IIIB2, and Late Helladic IIIB2 vases, and a stone anchor. The possible route of the Iria ship, from Cyprus to Crete and then to the Argolid, is discussed, based upon the provenance of the finds and preliminary results of petrographic analysis of the vases. The type of ship, a small vessel of not more than ten meters in length, is also discussed, based on contemporary iconographic...