Эрдэмтэд Киренийн хөлөг онгоцны ачаанаас олдсон органик зүйлсийг шинжилсний дүнд уг хөлөг онгоц МЭӨ 286-272 оны хооронд сүйрсэн болохыг тогтоов.
Кипр улсын эрэг орчмоос 1965 онд олдсон, Эллиний үеийн Киренийн хөлөг онгоцны сүйрсэн он цагийг Корнеллийн их сургуулийн судлаачид нарийвчлан тогтоожээ. Өмнөх судалгаануудад зоос болон ваар саванд тулгуурлан он цагийг таамаглаж байсан ч тодорхой бус байв. Энэ удаад багийнхан хөлөг онгоцны ачаанд хадгалагдаж байсан олон мянган бүйлсний үр болон ямааны шаантны ясыг ашиглан нүүрстөрөгчийн он цаг тогтоох аргаар илүү нарийвчлалтай үр дүнд хүрсэн байна.
Судалгааны явцад хөлөг онгоцны модон их биеийг хадгалах зорилгоор 20-р зуунд ашиглаж байсан полиэтилен гликол (PEG) хэмээх газрын тосны гаралтай бодис нь он цаг тогтооход саад болж байсныг илрүүлжээ. Судлаачид Нидерландын Гронинген их сургуулийн хамт олонтой хамтран модон эдлэлээс энэхүү бодисыг 99.9 хувь цэвэрлэх аргачлалыг боловсруулсан байна. Ингэснээр хөлөг онгоцны сүйрлийн хугацааг 95.4 хувийн магадлалтайгаар МЭӨ 305-271, 68.3 хувийн магадлалтайгаар МЭӨ 286-272 оны хооронд гэж тодорхойлжээ.
Энэхүү олдвор нь эртний тэнгисийн худалдаа, усан онгоцны технологийн талаарх бидний мэдлэгийг баяжуулаад зогсохгүй нүүрстөрөгчийн он цаг тогтоох калибровкын муруйг шинэчлэхэд чухал хувь нэмэр оруулж байна. Судлаачид МЭӨ 433-250 оны үеийн нүүрстөрөгчийн хэмжилтийг дахин тохируулж, нарны идэвхжилийн өөрчлөлтөөс үүдэлтэй нөлөөллийг тодорхой болгосон нь дэлхий даяар археологийн судалгаанд ашиглагдах шинжлэх ухааны чухал лавлагаа болж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Cornell researchers have narrowed the sinking of the Kyrenia, a Hellenistic-era ship found off Cyprus, to a most likely window of 286-272 BCE. The breakthrough came not from coins or treasure but from thousands of almonds stored in jars on board.
Shipwrecks tend to conjure dreams of sunken riches, yet the Kyrenia’s real prize turned out to be far humbler. Found in 1965 with a largely intact hull, it was the first major Greek Hellenistic-period ship ever discovered, and it was excavated, along with hundreds of ceramic vessels, between 1967 and 1969.
For six decades it has informed what we know about ancient ship technology, construction and maritime trade, and no fewer than three replicas have been built and launched. Even so, the date of its sinking was always vague at best. The new study, published in PLOS ONE, tackles that gap.
“It was a bit of a landmark moment, the idea that you actually could dive, excavate, and bring up a classical-era ship and so discover this long-past world directly. Shipwrecks are unique time capsules, and you can get amazing preservation,” said lead author Sturt Manning.
A Preservative Gets in the Way
Early attempts to date the vessel relied on its pottery and a small batch of coins, pointing to the later 300s BCE. The first volume of the final shipwreck publication, released last year, argued for something closer to 294-290 BCE, but its primary evidence was a poorly preserved, nearly illegible coin.
Radiocarbon dating of the wood should have helped, but there was a catch from the 20th century: polyethylene glycol, or PEG, a petroleum-based compound routinely applied to waterlogged wood.
“PEG was a standard treatment for decades. The trouble is it’s a petroleum product,” Manning said, noting that: “if you’ve got PEG in the wood, you have this contamination from ancient fossil carbon that makes radiocarbon dating impossible.”
Working with researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the team developed a cleaning method for the shipwreck’s timbers and tested it on PEG-treated Roman-era wood from Colchester, England, whose tree-ring dates were already known.
“We basically got 99.9% of the PEG removed,” Manning said.
Small Samples, Sharper Dates
With the method proven, the team cleaned a sample from the Kyrenia shipwreck that they had tried, and failed, to date accurately 10 years ago. They also dated a tiny, twisted wood fragment salvaged from the shipwreck in the late 1960s, too small for the reconstruction and therefore never PEG-treated. It sat in a jar of water in a museum for 50-odd years.
The most recent preserved tree rings grew in the mid-to-later 4th century BCE. Because the samples lacked bark, the felling date couldn’t be pinned down, only placed likely after approximately 355-291 BCE.
The cargo filled the gap. Working with the original excavation team, the researchers examined organic items, including a sheep or goat ankle bone and thousands of fresh green almonds found in large amphorae. These short-lived materials helped define the date of the ship’s last voyage. Combined statistical modeling and tree-ring data produced a range of 305-271 BCE at 95.4% probability, and 286-272 BCE at 68.3%, several years more recent than current estimations.
Fixing the Yardstick Itself
The new dates didn’t align with the international radiocarbon calibration curve, which is based on known-age tree rings and used for northern-hemisphere dates. Manning dug into the data behind it and found that the period between 350 and 250 BCE had no modern accelerator mass spectrometry data, only a few measurements from the 1980s and 1990s using an older technology.
With collaborators in the U.S. and the Netherlands, the team measured known-age single-year sequoia and oak samples to recalibrate 433-250 BCE. That clarified a big spike in radiocarbon production caused by a solar activity minimum centered around 360 BCE, and it revised the curve around 300 BCE.
According to Manning, the revised curve has relevance to other problems researchers are working on “whether in Europe or China or somewhere else in the northern hemisphere,” adding that:
“Half of the people who cite the paper in the future will be citing the fact that we’ve revised the radiocarbon calibration curve in this period, and only half will be saying the Kyrenia shipwreck is really important and has a much better date.”
Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to our free newsletter for engaging stories, exclusive content, and the latest news.
