The Kinneret Boat Project Part I. The Excavation and Conservation of the Kinneret Boat

The Iniernaiional Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration (1987) 16.3: 233-245

Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums @ 6 The Kinneret boat project Part I. The excavation and conservation of the Kinneret boat

Shelley Wachsmann Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, P. 0. Box 586, Jerusalem, Israel 91000

Kurt Raveh Center for Nautical and Regional Archaeology. Dora Kibbutz Nahsholini, Israel

Orna Cohen 304122 Mevo Hapartizanirn, Jerusalem, Israel

Due to a drought in 1985 and early 1986, the waters of the Sea of Galilee, or as it is known in Hebrew the Kinneret, receded, exposing new portions of the lake bottom. In January of 1986, Yuval and Moshe Lufan found the partial outline of a boat on the muddy beach several hundred metres south of Kibbutz Ginosar Figs 1-2 (Wachsmann et nl., 1986).

Through Mendel Nun, the local expert on the history of the Kinneret, the discovery was reported to the Israel Department of Antiquities, which immediately conducted a preliminary examination. The antiquity of the wreck was established when remains of ‘mortise-and- tenon’ joinery were discovered on the uppermost strake of the buried boat.

A two-day probe excavation was undertaken to determine the date and condition of the wreck. It appeared that much of the boat, with a length of 8.2 m and a width of 2.3 m, had been well- preserved. Iron nails, still in excellent condition, connected the strakes to the frames. In addition, two terracotta artifacts were uncovered. One was a cooking pot which may be dated from the mid-1st century BC to the mid-2nd century AD (Fig. 3). It was found, upside down, outside the boat near the stem. The second, an oil lamp, was found inside the boat, level with the top of the remaining stern and may be dated to the 1st century AD possibly continuing into the 2nd century AD (Fig. 4).

Upon completion of the probe, it was decided to re-bury the boat to protect it until conditions would allow a formal excavation. The discovery

0305-7445/87/030233+ 13 $03.00/0

appeared in the press, however, and the media soon coined the term ‘Boat of Jesus’. Beyond the craft’s approximate dating, the name lacked any basis in archaeological fact. However, the public’s imagination was fired. An unfounded rumour began circulating in the region that the newly discovered boat was full of gold coins. It soon became clear that the find could not be sufficiently protected on the open beach; and if it were not excavated immediately, it would be lost. The Department of Antiquities decided to conduct a salvage excavation of the wreck.

The present authors were responsible for the excavation and conservation. Professor J. Richard Steffy, from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology of Texas A&M University, studied the hull’s construction. The excavation pho- tographer was Danny Friedman; Edna Amos was the excavation recorder. Volunteers came from nearby Kibbutz Ginosar, Migdal, and all over Israel.

Organized in three days, the excavation began on 16 February 1986. The objectives were to uncover the boat and its immediate surrounding area, to study it in situ, and then to remove it-in one piece, if possible-for conservation at the Yigal Allon Museum at Ginosar.

The boat was found lying perpendicular to the coast, with the prow facing the sea. It was listing to port. Because of the list, the port side of the boat is better preserved. To prevent the rising lake from inundating the site, the Kinneret Authority built a dam around it.

The interior of the hull was entirely excavated

@ 1987 The Nautical Archaeology Society

NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 16.3

Figure 1. Map of Israel showing the location of the site.

Figure 2. Detailed map of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) showing the position of the site.

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(Figs 5-7), and all of the boat’s parts were recorded and drawn (Figs 8-9). Simple photo- mosaics of most of the inside of the hull were prepared (Fig. 10). Mud removed from the boat and its immediate vicinity was collected in plastic boxes, numbered by location, and dumped in marked piles to dry. Later, the piles were checked for additional artifacts.

Slightly to the north-east of the boat, remains of two other boats and various loose pieces of wood were found (Fig. 11). A third assemblage of wood was uncovered beneath the boat. These wooden remains suggest, in Steffy’s opinion,

Figure 3. The cooking pot. Figure 4. The oil lamp.

Figure 5. The boat on the second morning of excavation (17 February 1986).

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Figure 6. As the boat was freed of its clay overburden, it was necessary to devise a way to excavate it without workers standing on the fragile wood. The solution was to raise the two metal bridges and to lower a platform from which the excavators could work.

Figure 7. The excavation of the boat’s interior nears completion.

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S. WACHSMANN, K. RAVEH AND 0. COHEN: THE KINNERET BOAT PROJECT

Figure 8. All parts of the boat were tagged and numbered. White plastic tubing was used to outline the strakes to enhance photographic recording. Searching for a non-corrosive method for attaching the tags and tubing, cactus needles were used.

that the site was an area of ancient boat-building activities. This theory is supported by the fact that many of the excavated boat’s members had been carefully removed in antiquity, apparently for secondary use.

Once the excavation of the boat in sitzi was completed, it was prepared for removal in a manner developed by the excavation’s conser- vationist. First, fibreglass support frames were inserted between the boat’s wooden frames (Fig. 12). Following this, the boat was sprayed in sections with polyurethane foam (Figs 13-15). The excavation area was flooded and the boat, encapsulated in foam, was floated up the coast (Figs 16-17). The excavation and transfer were completed in 11 days and nights.

The craft was then placed in its special conservation pool. The polyurethane cocoon was stripped off, and the boat was submerged in water to prevent it from drying out until the conservation process begins (Figs 18-20).

Conservation treatment will involve replacing the water in the cavities of the deteriorated wood cells with the synthetic wax, polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEG treatment was chosen due to the experience and improvements gained through its use in other projects dealing with the preservation of waterlogged wood.

Treating at least seven different types of wood in various states of deterioration is difficult. A two-step process has so far been proven most effective: (1) low molecular weight PEG-600 is applied and, over time, the concentration of the solution is brought up to 50%; (2) later, high molecular weight PEG-3500 is substituted and the concentration slowly brought up to 90%. (The 35 tons of polyethylene glycol which are to be use in the conservation have been donated by Jacobson Agencies, Ltd., a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals.)

Complete immersion in the solution, rather than spraying, may shorten the required treat-

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Figure 10. As the woodwork was revealed, simple photo-mosaics were prepared. This mosaic shows the boat’s stem.

Figure 11. The two additional boat fragments in situ.

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Figure 12. As one group of workers completed the excavation of the boat’s stern, a second group, beginning at the stem, laid down internal fibreglass/polyester resin frames between the boat’s wooden frames.

Figure 13. Once the internal fibreglass frames were completed, the hull was spray-filled with polyurethane foam.

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S. WACHSMANN, K. RAVEH A N D 0. COHEN: THE KINNERET BOAT PROJECT

Figure 14. Tunnels, perpendicular to the keel, were excavated beneath the boat. Fibreglass/polyester trusses were wrapped around the exterior of the boat’s hull. The tunnels were then spray-filled with polyurethane foam, forming external frames. When the boat was supported by a row of external polyurethane frames, it was possible to excavate the remaining mud beneath the hull and repeat the process.

tigure 13. A[ me conciusion ot the process, the boat had been entirely encased in a polyurethane cocoon without moving it. Wooden boards add structural strength.

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Figure 16. Water was pumped back into theexcavation pit. A steam shovel dug achannel to the sea, and the boat was floated out to the lake.

Figure 17. The boat sails the waters of the Sea of Galilee for the first time in two millennia.

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Figure 18. A reinforced concrete conservation pool was constructed in 10 days. The boat, on a metal sling specially designed to allow its subsequent removal. was then placed inside the pool.

ment time to about seven or eight years. Once the preservation treatment of the craft has been completed, it will be slowly dried. After cleaning the excess PEG from the surface and completing restoration work, it should be possible to study and exhibit the boat in a dry environment.

Significance Based on comparison with Mediterranean ship- building techniques, Steffy suggested a date for the boat within the 1st century BC through the 2nd century AD. Admittedly, there is no other Galilee example with which to compare it, and it is possible that coastal techniques remained in

use longer in this inland region. Samples of the wood were submitted for C14 dating to Y. Carmi of the Weizmann Institute. The C14 results on four of these ranged from 180 BC to AD 80 & 100, the variations possibly due to the re-use of old wood. Results from additional samples, including a tenon, are pending. Estimates based on the pottery, ship construction techniques, and CI4 dating are thus within the range of the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD.

This is the first ancient inland lake work-boat to be retrieved in the Mediterranean region. It is also the first ancient boat found in the Kinneret. Prior to its discovery, virtually nothing was

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Figure 19. The boat in its conservation pool at the conclusion of the stripping of the polyurethane casing.

known archaeoIogicaIly about the craft that sailed on this lake, although numerous references were made to them by Josephus and in the New Testament. Further study may show it to represent a class of boat referred to in these sources and depicted in a mosaic dating from the 1st century AD found at Migdal.

A detailed preliminary report is being pre-

pared and will appear as a separate volume of the English Series of Atiqot, published by the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums.

Acknowledgements All photographs by Danny Friedman, courtesy of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums.

References Wachsmann. S.. Raveh, K. & Cohen, 0. 1986, Ginosar Coast: an ancient boat. Hadushot Archeologiot 88: 6-7 (in

Hebrew).

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Figure 20. The boat in its conservation pool. A building with a glass- partitioned visitor's gallery has been constructed around the pool.

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The Kinneret Boat Project Part I. The Excavation and Conservation of the Kinneret Boat

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