(ORDO NEWS) — Archaeologists have found out the origin of tin on the sunken Uluburun ship.
The Uluburun ship is a Phoenician merchant ship that sank in the 14th century BC off the Anatolian coast southeast of the modern city of Kas.
It was discovered in 1982, and it was a real breakthrough for specialists in the history of trade and navigation. The vessel reaches a length of 15 meters and is capable of carrying 20 tons of cargo.
Michael Frachetti of Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues set out to find out where the tin that the ship was carrying was made.
To do this, they decided to analyze its isotopic composition – each metal deposit has a unique combination of different isotopes, so you can find out where the ore was mined.
“Over the past couple of decades, scientists have collected information about the isotopic composition of tin ore deposits around the world, as well as the natural mechanisms by which the isotopic composition was transferred to [tin ore] cassiterite during its formation,” the scientists explain.
It turned out that two-thirds of the tin was obtained from the Kestel mine, which is located on the territory of modern Turkey, and one-third was mined in the Mushiston mine in Uzbekistan.
This allows us to speak about the existence in the XIV century BC of a developed trade network stretching for many thousands of kilometers.
“The search for tin was a big problem for prehistoric states. Experts have long been interested in how the great empires of the Bronze Age met their huge demand for bronze, given the relative rarity of tin, ”the authors of the study explain. Now scientists have an answer – raw materials could be brought from afar.
Tin was a key ingredient in bronze, a high-tech metal in the 1500s much stronger than copper. Household items, weapons and protective equipment were made from it. The Uluburun ship also carried enough copper to smelt 11 tons of bronze.
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