Developing a Toolkit for Energetics Analysis of Wooden Shipbuilding: The Uluburun Shipwreck, a Case Study

Evidence from well-documented historical periods such as Classical Athens indicates that the costs in resources and labor devoted to shipbuilding were among the highest—and most highly prioritized—aspects of a state’s expenditure. Yet comparable studies of the way early states in the Late Bronze Age (LBA – 1700 to 1075 BCE) built and maintained their ships are notably lacking. To begin to address these questions, this paper develops a toolkit for the application of energetics analysis to LBA shipbuilding. The Uluburun shipwreck was chosen as a case study because of its extensive publication and remarkable preservation. Comparative data from other shipwrecks and ethnographic material from better-documented historical periods were used to supplement gaps in the archaeological record. The results of the analysis show that the relatively high cost of the labor, time, and value invested in the Uluburun ship contrasts strongly with the negligible impact its construction may have had on the forestry reserves where it was built. However, when viewed on a collective scale, the impact on the forests of the Eastern Mediterranean littoral may have been more substantial than visualized here. Beyond providing insights into the logistics of ancient shipbuilding, this study represents a methodological innovation that can serve as a guideline for the broader application of energetics beyond architecture.