A Late Bronze Age Shipwreck with a Metal Cargo from Hishuley Carmel, Israel

A 13th-century-BC shipwreck site, Hishuley Carmel, is described and discussed. It provides direct evidence for marine transport of copper and tin along the Israeli coast and may indicate inland and maritime trade-routes of metals in the Mediterranean. The shipwreck represents a supply-system providing the demand for bronze in the Levant. Trace-elements and lead-isotope analysis suggest that the copper came from Cyprus, similarly to bun and oxhide ingots from Uluburun. The source of the tin cannot yet be ascertained. The medium-size ship was probably grounded and wrecked during a storm. Some of the cargo may have been salvaged in Antiquity.