UNDERWATER ARCHEOLOGY — ^BASS 465 



known as rather late developments in the evolution of the ingot shape, 

 were merely handles for ease of porterage; the faces, one rough and 

 "hairy," and the other with a rolled rim seemingly representing the 

 curling of a dried skin are simply the result of the method of casting 

 and the type of mold used. Dozens of ingot fragments, in small 

 groups on the wreck, have proved by weight not to be fractional 

 parts of whole ingots, as might be expected if the ingots were truly 

 currency. 



The use of these ingots is seen in a wall painting in the Tomb of 

 Eekh-mi-re' at Thebes. Egyptian smiths are shown melting down 

 "oxliide" ingots to be cast with square white ingots. The obvious 

 conclusion from this scene, that copper and tin were being mixed to 

 form bronze, has been contested by some authorities who have thought 

 that the Avhite ingots must be lead. This is not as arbitrary as it 

 might seem, for only two or three items of pure tm have been found 

 from tills early date. The Gelidonya wreck, however, yielded a num- 

 ber of piles of white powdery material that, after being carefully 

 collected in plastic bags and analyzed, proved to be pure tin oxide. 

 Tills proves that the previous lack of evidence of industrial tin had 

 been due only to the fortunes of excavation. Not only may we now 

 feel sure that the white ingots of the Egyptian tomb paintings are 

 tin, but this discovery also adds an argument for the identification of 

 andku in the old Assyrian documents from Cappadocia as tin rather 

 than lead. 



Most of the ingots are stamped with Cypro-Minoan signs. The 

 meaning of these letters might add greatly to our understanding of 

 this still-undeciphered script. Only after careful analysis of each 

 ingot will it be possible to say if the marks refer to different mines, 

 foundries, destinations, or metal quality. Careful excavation again 

 plays an important role. Stratigraphy, so essential for chronological 

 conclusions in the excavation of land sites, might seem to be of little 

 value in the study of an ancient wreck; most of the objects on a 

 ship are contemporary. Even here, however, the general rule that 

 "higher means later" has validity. If all of the ingots (or, in the 

 case of other ships, wine jars or tiles) were not put on board at the 

 same place, those lowest in the hold would have come from the 

 earliest ports of call. Thus, if we find by analysis that the lower 

 ingots from the Bronze Age ship seem to come from different mines 

 than those above, it may some day be possible to trace the route of 

 the vessel. This information, together with a study of ancient place 

 names, might offer still another clue to the meaning of the ingot signs. 



With the ingot fragments, often packed together in the same 

 baskets, were hundreds of bronze tools, weapons, and household uten- 

 sils. These included picks, hoes, axes, adzes, mirrors, bowls, chisels, 

 knives, a hammer, a spade, and a spit. Some were complete and may 



