On Boats and Sea Peoples

Representations of second millennium ships on a portable altar found in the excavations at Tel Akko are compared to other eastern Mediterranean vessels in an attempt to establish whether any known ship-building tradition is involved in their shapes. The period in which these Tel Akko boats appeared is the one in which the various groups of Sea Peoples' boats have been found in the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu. Since the Akko discovery, additional boat representations have been considered in the literature. Combined with other recent studies, which enlarge the available data on the Sea Peoples, we may be able to understand more about this enigmatic period.