Echoes of Nabataean Seafaring

When one thinks of the Nabataeans, the desert comes to mind, with wind-blown sands, the red rock-cut architecture of their capital of Petra, and trade routes carrying incense from Arabia to the Mediterranean. There is, however, another aspect of the Nabataeans, one that is only now coming into focus: Seafaring.

The land of the Nabataeans not only included the Jordanian desert but the coast of the Red Sea, reaching southward from Aqaba and down into the northwestern coast of what is now Saudi Arabia. These coasts, mostly barren but containing harbors and access to water, were links to inland trade routes and formed the maritime nexus between Nabataea and the greater world.

See the full article at http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/02/Echoes-Nabataean-Seafaring

New Publication: Nabataean Seafaring and the Search for Shipwrecks in the Red Sea

Seafaring by the Nabataeans is virtually an archaeological unknown: Indeed, in the corpus of Nabataean studies the issue is not often addressed. The inhabitants of what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan are mostly known for their rock-carved buildings and tombs, at least in popular venues. Ancient authors noted, however, that Nabataeans plied the waters of the Red Sea as traders or pirates, maintaining their major port at Leuke Kome, whose location remains undiscovered. Several harbors containing Nabataean aspects have been located along the Saudi coast through archaeological investigation, yet the study of the maritime aspects and accomplishments of the Nabataeans remains in its infancy. Nautical Archaeology in the Red Sea is also in its early stages, but research has begun to reveal the ships of antiquity and the cargoes they carried. This paper outlines the archaeological researches of shipwrecks in the Red Sea, and examines the potential of finding the remains of Nabataean seacraft on the sea lanes reaching from Aqaba to points along the Red Sea littoral.

Authors: Ralph K. Pedersen & Rupert A. Brandmeier

Published in: Studies on the Nabataean Culture II, Nabil I. Khairy, editor. Deanship of Scientific Research, The University of Jordan-Amman (2016): 11-24.

The Marsala Punic Warships: Reconsidering their Nature and the Function of the “Ram”

Denise Averdung and Ralph Pedersen are pleased to announce the publication of their article in the journal Skyllis concerning an evaluation of the so-called ram of the ships found off Marsala, Sicily by Honor Frost some four decades ago. The article includes the analysis of the two hulls from Marsala and the Marburg experiment in scale-model testing the feature in question.

A pdf of the article can be found here.

The Marburg Model

On the Desert Fringe: New Maritime Surveys on the Central Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia.

The Materiality in Islam Research Initiative (MIRI) of the University of Copenhagen presents my lecture “On the Desert Fringe: New Maritime Surveys on the Central Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia. “ on 19 September 2012 at 16:00 (4 P.M.).

Location: Institute of Cross-cultural & Regional Studies, Snorresgade 17-19, 1st floor, 2300 Copenhagen S

This lecture is part of their new “History and Archaeology of Arabia Lecture Series.”