Contact: Phil Hearn
Scientific exploration that is unlocking the mysteries of ancient Mediterranean mariners will be examined Tuesday [Jan. 27] at Mississippi State University.
Daniel M. Master, an assistant professor of archaeology at Wheaton (Ill.) College will discuss, "Journey to the Bottom of the Sea: Phoenicians off the Coast of Ashkelon," during a 7 p.m. lecture at the Simrall Hall auditorium.
MSU's Cobb Institute of Archaeology is sponsoring the free, public event.
Master, who holds a doctorate in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard University, has participated in Middle East excavations for more than a decade. He teaches archaeology and Hebrew Bible at Wheaton, and also serves as assistant director of the Harvard-sponsored Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, located in Israel.
The Phoenicians were famous mariners of the ancient world who traveled from Lebanon to the Straits of Gibraltar, establishing a trading empire across the Mediterranean Sea. They spread knowledge of the alphabet, as well as goods, to almost everyone they met and may have been the first to circumnavigate Africa. Phoenician goods included staples such as wine and olive oil, as well as luxuries such as ivory and silver.
A U.S. Navy expedition off the ancient port of Ashkelon in 1997 discovered a pile of storage jars that were linked to the Phoenicians. So in 1999, Robert Ballard, discoverer of the HMS Titanic, and Harvard archaeologist Lawrence E. Stager gathered a team of archaeologists, engineers and other scientists to probe the deep-ocean site.
That expedition uncovered two Phoenician shipwrecks from the eighth century B.C., which authorities described as the two oldest ships ever found in deep water. The two wrecks were surveyed using various electronic sensors mounted on "Jason," a robotic deep-sea craft from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. They continue to provide new information as scientists reconstruct the history of the ancient period.
The maritime world of the Phoenicians long was hidden beneath hundreds of meters of seawater. With the advent of nuclear submarines and advanced robotics, however, scientists are opening up the secrets of the deep.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information on the program, telephone the Cobb Institute at (662) 325-3826.