Kyrenia Shipwreck Will Be Published
In our recent review of The Problem of Unpublished Excavations we listed Michael Katzev among the culprits—archaeologists who delay publishing, or never publish, the results of their research.a We are pleased to say we may have spoken too soon.
Katzev, who died of a stroke last September at age 62, is famous in maritime archaeological circles for his work raising, preserving and reconstructing the Kyrenia, a Greek vessel named (by the researchers) after the Cypriot town near where it sank around 300 B.C. When the Kyrenia went down it was carrying over 400 wine jars, mostly made in Rhodes—it had probably stopped there on its way to some other port of call. Carbon-14 dating of the wood used in the boat’s construction and of the organic materials it was carrying reveal that it was an old ship—over 80 years old—when it sank.
The reconstructed vessel now occupies its own museum in its namesake harbor resort, although until now there has been no published report on the project. However, Katzev’s widow, Susan, advises us that she is currently coordinating the effort of a team of scholars to publish her husband’s Kyrenia material, in two volumes, through Texas A&M University Press.
Read the rest of Strata: Raised from the Deep in the online Biblical Archaeology Society Library.