Investigators - Asaf Oron, head conservator, INA Bodrum Reseach Center, and Dr. Gideon Hadas, director, Ein Gedi Oasis Excavation
Location - Dead Sea (north basin, western shore), Israel
Period - Hellenistic to modern
Highlight - The cast-bronze leg and hoof was found in association with several bronze coins of a Hellenistic date. Altogether it appears that this assembly is part of a larger cargo that was most likely lost in the area.
Fieldwork - The continual drop in the level of the Dead Sea--recently at an average rate of one meter a year--has led to the exposure of vast areas of former seabed. The Dead Sea Coastal Survey project, initiated in 2004, aims to systematically search these newly exposed areas primarily on foot. During the 2008 season, some of the more remote areas of the coastline were surveyed, as well as several coastal areas, previously surveyed, where significant portions of seabed are newly exposed. Although 2008 field work was somewhat slowed by an unusually high level of rainfall several new sites and artifacts were located, including an intact Byzantine (or later) cross made of a copper alloy, and a beautifully preserved cast bronze leg in a shape of a hoof that was likely attached to a large metal container.