gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, seals, cylinders, archaeology, archaeogemology, Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Mesopotamia, Mediterranean, Levant, Bronze Age, ancient trade, commerce, Late Bronze Age, Mediterranean, Turkey

A shipwreck dating to the Late Bronze Age was excavated off Uluburun—or Grand Cape—approximately 9 kilometers southeast of Kaş in southern Turkey, between 1984 and 1994. It was discovered by a sponge diver during the summer of 1982 and brought to the attention of archaeologists at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) conducting annual shipwreck surveys along the coast. The original allure of the site was its cargo of copper ingots. Similar ingots had been discovered during the 1960 excavation of a seafaring merchant ship of around the twelfth century B.C. off Cape Gelidonya, just 65.5 kilometers east of Uluburun. Analyses of finds from the Cape Gelidonya shipwreck had allowed George Bass to hypothesize about the central role of Near Eastern seafarers in Late Bronze Age trade in the Mediterranean.