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Dating the Wreck

The date of the Pabuç Burnu wreck depends primarily on the Ionian cups and the transport amphoras. Unfortunately, even these artifacts leave open a fairly wide possible chronological range.

Fragments of at least two Ionian cups on the wreck show a distinctive vertical lip with a groove marking the juncture between the rim and the tightly curving, sometimes even angular, bowl of the vessel.  While many forms of Ionian cup are dated as early as the late 7th and early 6th centuries, this particular form continues in use much later. The most useful aspect of this particular type for determining the date of an example is the decorative scheme, but with the fragments from Pabuç Burnu the paint is very poorly preserved.
amph02  
amph03
   amph01
Archaic East Greek transport amphoras from the Pabuç Burnu shipwreck. (Photos by D. Frey)
Among the transport amphoras, both the more common and less common types provide some indication of the date of the wreck. The plain, wide, flat base of a very fragmentary gray amphora from the area of Lesbos only replaces a very low ring base near the middle of the 6th century. The various southern Aegean forms with their short necks, ridge of clay at the very base of the neck, and rounded rims are all typical of the 6th century. The most distinctive feature of these southern Aegean jars is the deeply hollowed area under the toe. The depth of this hollow, often such that it projects higher on the interior of the tow than the level of the juncture between body and toe, is a feature that seems more common earlier rather than later in the 6th century.

At this point in the research, it seems as though the date of the wreck lies in the second quarter of the 6th century B.C., probably near the middle of the century.
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