On account of the diversity of rituals one encounters through the archaeological, iconographic or textual record, it becomes clear that a boat or ship occupied an important role in various rituals reaching far back in the history of Scandinavia. Their prevalent occurrence suggests their deep-rooted connection to the spiritual sphere of humans and their general acceptance in socio-cultural systems – even if their levels of meaning might have varied in time and space. Images of boats have played a central role in the material culture from the early Prehistory onwards and appeared in form of carvings on rocks especially close to the coast, on wooden coffins or on decorated bronze razors in context with mortuary rituals.

During prehistoric and medieval times in Scandinavia the boat was an indispensable object in everyday life. Therefore, it was commonly accepted as a sign and occurred in the spiritual culture as a manifestation of something.

A boat out of its original techno-utilitarian function as a transporting vessel with its implied economical and social amplifications is a symbol with great multivocality. Actual boats or parts of them can be present in burial rituals; the presence of a boat can also be simulated by boat-shaped stone settings on a grave or in form of carved or drawn boats on stelae or tombstones.

Although not being considered as a continuous tradition, Scandinavian boat-graves appear from the Stone Age to the Medieval Period. They greatly vary in their occurrence, their contextual circumstances, and their symbolic connotations. Cremation burials in or with a boat occurred in South and East Scandinavia, Southeast Finland and West Norway, inhumation graves with boats or their parts were found in Denmark, Central Sweden and on the coasts of Norway.

Burials with whole boats, parts of them or with just a respectable amount of rivets and nails as an indicator of a boat are most widespread during the Viking Age (c. 800-1050) and appear rather in areas close to the coast. They are not gender specific given that female boat graves can be found in Tune and Norsa in Västmanland, Sweden (Here should be noted that a lot of associations with boat graves are solely based on the finds of numerous clenched nails or rivets in the burial).

Shapes and types of boat graves can quite vary, as well as their interpretations and associated levels of meaning. Boats or ships in burials can also simply function as a repository of the body or grave goods or as an emblematic element of the funerary ritual. A strong cultic or ritualistic significance in regard to human and animalistic sacrifices at for instance Gokstad, Oseberg, Slusegaard and Ladby is undeniable, however, also small boats with no obvious value were used as coffins in other societies.

Approximately 1400 graves, both inhumation and cremation graves, were discovered at the Danish cemetery of Slusegaard. 43 graves contained either a whole boat, half a boat or parts of a boat together with the dead, however, there is a high probability of yet undiscovered or previously not recognised boat graves. The burials were mostly located in sand, where their features could still be recognised in its colouring due to former treatment of the boat with tar or resin. The boats themselves were slender, expanded log boats and probably mainly used for fishing and navigation along the coast.

The boats were usually turned upside down to cover the deceased and it seems likely that they could have functioned as some sort of coffin or container. The 43 boats graves displayed an equal distribution among male and female burials. No children were found, although approximately 1/3 of the whole cemetery was occupied by children graves. The cemetery was in use from the 1^st to the 4^th century AD. By means of local pottery, which was used as a common grave good at Slusegaard, the main group of boat graves was dated between 80 and 160 AD with the remaining up to 250 AD. None of them, however, date to the beginning or to the end period of the cemetery. Certain grave goods in boat graves and the occurrence of double graves with obvious human sacrifice indicate some sort of cult activity, a fertility cult most likely, in Slusegaard.

The 21m long warship of Ladby contained next to various weapons and animal offerings also human sacrifices. This particular factor led to an interpretation focused on the probable high status of the deceased and his leading role as part of a military caste in society. References have been made to the Arabian diplomat Ahmed Ibn Fadlan. In his written record from the 10^th century AD, he describes his journey to the “Rus” people, which have been identified with Scandinavian Vikings. He gives a detailed report on a witnessed funeral of a chieftain, which included a decorated boat, sacrifices in form of food, animals and a slave girl and their subsequent cremation.

During the Viking-Age in Scandinavia very different burial rites were performed which implies that the conception of the afterlife was not uniformly adopted and expressed, maybe based on regional or even ethnic idioms.

It can be generally stated that boats were used as a symbolic element in Scandinavian graves to a greater or lesser extent continuously from the 1^st to the 11^th century AD, however, not by everyone, not necessarily in all of Scandinavia and definitely in various forms. The usage of a boat or their parts in a funerary context was not standard practice; it was rather executed by a small selection of society.

Different meanings or symbolic functions have been assigned to them. On one hand they were thought to be a representative symbol for the journey to the world of the dead, on the other hand they were considered as an expression of peoples connected to the sea in a social, economic or ideological sense.

Bibliography:

• Adams, J. (2000) Ships and boats as archaeological source material, World Archaeology, 32(3): 292-310
• Bonde, N., Christensen, A. E. (1993) Dendrochronological dating of the Viking Age ship burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, Norway. Antiquity 67: 575-583
• Crumlin-Pedersen, O. (1995) Boat-burials at Slusegaard and the Interpretation of the Boat-grave custom IN: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M. (eds.) The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 87-100
• Ingstad, A. S. (1995) The nterpretation of the Oseberg-find IN: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M. (eds.) The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 139-147
• Kobylinski, Z. (1995) Ships, Society, Symbols and Archaeologists In: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M., The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 9-19
• Müller-Wille, M. (1995) Boat graves, old and new views IN: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M. (eds.) The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 101-109
• Müller-Wille, M. (1974) Boat-graves in northern Europe, The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 3(2): 187-204
• Wamers, E. (1995) The Symbolic Significance of the Ship-graves at Haiðaby and Ladby IN: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M. (eds.) The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 148-159
• Warmind, M.L. (1995) Ibn Fadlan in the Context of his Age IN: Crumlin-Pedersen, O., Thye, B. M. (eds.) The Ship as a symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia, Copenhagen: The National Museum, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Roskilde, 130-137

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Information about El Amarna 35

The clay tablet EA 35 found in El Amarna, Egypt in 1887, measuring 5,75 x 3,875 inches, was written in Akkadian cuneiform around 1375 B.C and was acquired by Sir Ernest A. T. Wallis Budge for the British Museum in 1888. The omission of the names of the king of Egypt and of the king of Alashiya in EA 33-39 indicates that the names of both rulers were well-known on either side. At the beginning of the letter in line 10 the king of Alashiya apologises for the low amount of 500 talent of copper he has sent. However, it is still the largest shipment recorded in any of the El Amarna tablets. Nergal* is mentioned as the divine force behind the shortage of shipment and is made responsible for the death of “all“ the people in the kings land which left no one to mine copper. Further along in the letter, the Alashiyan king asks for silver, an ox, oil, and an eagle conjurer, and finally politely demands an outstanding payment for already delivered wood from his lands. To the end of his letter he advises the king not to contact the kings of Hattie and Šanher, which implies that Alashiya has not sworn loyalty to the Hittite king and tries to manipulate allegiances.

The Cyprus-Alashiya question

The conformity of ancient Alashiya with the island of Cyprus has been widely accepted among scholars although reference to other areas, such as S- or E-Anatolia, N-Syria and Cilicia still remain. Through elimination and comparison of the textual evidence of 8 El Amarna letters and Hittie and Ugaritic documents referring to Alashiya with the geographical, politico-social and economic position of Late Bronze Age Cyprus and the other suggested areas as well as petrographic analysis of EA 34 and 35, it has been presented convincingly that ancient Alashiya can indeed be identified with Cyprus. The El Amarna tablets (EA 33-39) attest that Alashiya was an equal among other contemporary powers such as Assyria, Mitanni and Babylon, rather than a single city. The mention of „all“ the perished workforce in Alashiya by the hand of Nergal points firstly to an identification of Alashiya with a specific mining area rather than the whole island of Cyprus – exaggeration is also a possibility – and that the people died of an unknown illness or plague. Furthermore, Alashiya was an independent state during that period and the Egyptian king was addressed as “brother“, implying equality of both rulers. Their correspondence (EA 33-39) also reveals that Alashiya was an island using ships to travel to and from Egypt, held economic and political relations to Egypt and N-Syria, produced and exported large quantities of copper, and also served as a place of exile for political prisoners.

The reference to the “small“ amount of 500 talents (7500 kg) of copper can be indicative of standards in shipments and the continuous recurrence of these assets suggests a certain trading frequency between Egypt and Cyprus. Moreover, the archaeologist can draw conclusions about the average tonnage of cargo and possible capacities of Late Bronze Age ships. The demand for payment of delivered wood indicates that their relationship was based on commerce rather than tribute and that Cyprus exported copper, wood, and ships to Egypt and obtained silver, oil, and other luxuries in return.

The advantageous locations of Cyprus along the most frequented sea routes in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as its resources of raw material and several pre-existing centres of commerce, made it an important maritime trading point in the Late Bronze Age. The demand for Cypriot copper constantly increased especially in the 14th century B.C. and provoked a more thorough form of organisation in administration and probably convergence of power on the island. The archaeological record supports several centres with mining and processing activity on Late Bronze Age Cyprus with its coastal and inland centres linked through commutation. The island maintained a relationship of socio-economic and cultural exchange with its neighbours from the Aegean to Babylonia and from Anatolia to Egypt.

The El Amarna letters provide an authentic insight into this economic and apparently friendly connection with Egypt. The two kingdoms were bound through Egypt’s need for copper, as well as Cypriot wood and ships, and Cyprus’ desire for silver and other luxury goods. The information obtained from EA 35 can add to our archaeological record of Cyprus and hopefully stimulate further investigation into Cypriot shipbuilding and its role as wood supplier. With these declarations in mind, previously recorded shipwrecks as well as their cargo in the area of interest could be perceived from a different perspective and new research questions on shipbuilding traditions on Cyprus. and ship export and distribution can be posed.

[*] God of death and the underworld

Bibliography

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=327098&partId=1&searchText=amarna+letters&page=1, 02.02.2014

Armstrong, K. M. (2003) Settlement Hierarchy and the Location of Alashiya on Cyprus, Masters thesis, University of Cincinnati

Gale, N. (2001) Archaeology, science-based archaeology and the Mediterranean Bronze Age metals trade: A contribution to the debate, European Journal of Archaeology 4 (1): 113-130

Georgiou, H. (1979) Relations between Cyprus and the Near East in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, Levant, 11(1): 84–100

Goren, Y., Bunimovitz, S., Finkelstein, I., Na´Aman, N. (2003) The Location of Alashiya: New Evidence from Petrographic Investigations of Alashiyan Tablets from El-Amarna and Ugarit, American Journal of Archaeology 107 (2): 233-355

Holmes, Y. L. (1971) The location of Alashiya, Journal of the American Oriental Society 91 (3): 426-429

Jirku, A. (1950) The Problem of Alashiya, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 82 (1): 40-42

Knapp, A. B. (1985) Alashiya, Caphtor/Keftiu, and Eastern Mediterranean Trade: Recent studies in Cypriote Archaeology and History, Journal of Field Archaeology 12 (2): 231-250

Knapp, A. B., Bouzek, J.,Frankel, D., Held, S. O., Peltenburg, E. and Simmons, A. H. (1990) Production, Location, and Integration in Bronze Age Cyprus, Current Anthropology 31(2): 147-176

Knapp, A. B. (1993) Thalassocracies in Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean Trade: Making and Breaking a Myth, World Archaeology 24 (3): 332-347

Knudtzon, J. A. (1915) Die El-Amarna-Tafeln mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen, Vol. 01, Hinrichs`sche Buchhandlung: Leipzig

Ouda, N. M. (2003) Die Mittel der internationalen Kommunikation zwischen Ägypten und Staaten Vorderasiens in der späten Bronzezeit, Inaugural-Dissertation zur
Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br.

Schuster Keswani, P. (1993) Models of Local Exchange in Late Bronze Age Cyprus, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 292, Perspectives on Cypriot Social Complexity: 73-83

Webb, J. M., Frankel, D., Stos, Z. A., Gale, N. (2006) Early Bronze Age metal trade in the eastern Mediterranean. New compositional and lead isotope evidence from Cyprus, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 25 (3): 261-288

[2] God of death and the underworld

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Esther Unterweger, Karl-Franzen University Graz, Austria and University of Southampton, England

(BA Art History, MA Provincial Archaeology and Maritime Archaeology, Scientific Diver)

While studying Art History in Austria (Karl-Franzens University of Graz) and in Spain (University of Valencia) I developed an interest and later on passion for Archaeology. During my MA in Archaeology in Austria I focused on Provincial Archaeology especially in the provinces of North Africa and Asia Minor. My dissertation was on the Punic-Roman town of Gigthis, Tunisia and dealt with the transition and exchange of pre-Roman and Roman culture.

In the past years I was able to accumulate some experience in terrestrial archaeology. I participated in various projects and worked on prehistoric sites in Austria; pre-Roman excavations in South-Italy; ancient Greek city walls in Turkey; Mayan temples in Belize and many more.

Initially, diving was a leisure activity to me, but I soon discovered that the underwater world had more to offer. Exploring shipwrecks with their cargos and inundated settlements provides scientists with unique insights and information into past human activities. This realisation turned my former hobby into a further step in my education when I started my MA in Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton in 2013. Now I focus on Bronze Age maritime trade relations especially in the Eastern Mediterranean, piracy in the 16^th and 17^th century and contiguous Palaeo-Landscape reconstructions.

• Twitter account: @EstherUnterwege
• FutureLearn profile: https://www.futurelearn.com/profiles/284061

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