A stone anchor from the Dead Sea

Two Artificial Anchorages off the Northern Shore of the Dead Sea: a specific feature of an ancient maritime cultural landscape

“…This juncture in the lake's maritime history took place at the end of the 4th century BCE, as indicated by Diodorus' naval battle account reflecting the growing presence of the Mediterranean thalassocracies in the Dead Sea. In the archaeological record, this is also reflected by finds such as a two‐armed wooden anchor of a Mediterranean type (Hadas et al ., : 301–6) and stone anchors of large craft (Hadas, , ) dating to the Late Hellenistic/Early Roman periods.…”

“…A systematic ongoing survey of these areas in the framework of the Dead Sea Coastal Survey (DSCS)—a project aimed at locating, recording, retrieving, and studying newly exposed finds on the former lake‐bed along the northern basin's western and northern shores—has revealed numerous finds (Oron and Hadas, forthcoming a; forthcoming b). These include metal and ceramic cargo remains, anchorages, and anchors of several types spanning more than two‐and‐a‐half millennia (Hadas, , , Hadas et al ., ; Hirschfeld and Ariel, ; Oron et al ., ). The analysis of this survey material, much of which has been preserved in pristine condition by the highly saline water, sheds new light on the nature of ancient and historic maritime activity on the lake.…”

A New Type of Composite Anchor Dated to the Fatimid-Crusader Period from the Dead Sea, Israel

“…The Dead Sea region was famous for its date-palms in ancient times. Fibres of datepalms were in common use, and were found as hawsers tied to stone anchors from the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC in Ein Gedi (Hadas, 1992;Shimony et al ., 1992). The anchor-lines and the buoy-lines, bound to the top of the Roman anchor and the one-armed anchor dated to the 7th century BC, were all made of Phoenix dactylifera .…”

“…Two still contained the remains of their hawsers, which were dated by radiocarbon analysis to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC ( Nissenbaum et al ., 1990;Hadas, 1992). A fourth stone anchor of similar type was found in 1991 just north of this site (Hadas, 1993). In 2003 and 2004, two more anchors were discovered near Ein Gedi.…”