Notice Board

Exchange in the Age of Lyric Poetry: The 6th-century BCE Shipwreck at Pabuç Burnu, Turkey 

Classical Association of Canada, Annual Western Speakers Tour
Co-sponsored by The Department of History of Religion at the University of Lethbridge
Friday, September 15, 2023, 3:30-5 p.m.  (via Zoom)

In the first half, probably the second quarter, of the sixth century BCE, a ship sank off the coast of Pabuç Burnu, Turkey, southeast of Bodrum or ancient Halikarnassos. Excavated by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the vessel’s preserved cargo and hull remains provide evidence for the development of Archaic production and exchange systems. The circulation of agricultural products in a moderate-sized merchant vessel—carrying a load of perhaps six tons—speaks for a practice of local transport designed to operate in a rather different framework from the exchange of luxury items catalogued by early Greek lyric poets or the markets of Classical Athens. The hull itself, constructed from planks that were laced together with ligatures, suggests a locally constructed vessel in a technological world far removed from the triremes of Classical navies. The ship, crew, and cargo reveal a developing commercial environment of standardized production in the Archaic eastern Mediterranean. 

 Elizabeth S. Greene is a Professor in the Department of Classics and Archaeology at Brock University. Her research focuses on transforming networks of maritime interaction across the Mediterranean, viewed primarily through shipwrecks and harbor sites off the coasts of Turkey and Italy. As former Vice-President for Cultural Heritage and now President of the Archaeological Institute of America, her work involves heritage preservation and public advocacy; recent efforts on this front highlight connections between the long-term mobility of people and objects and contemporary dialogs on migration, displacement, and sustainability.

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