Miniature boats and maritime culture in Iron Age Cyprus and the Levant: Model clay boats

大英博物馆收藏的来自铁器时代塞浦路斯（公元前800年至公元前500年）的烧制粘土模型船是世界上为数不多的古代地中海船只的三维代表。本研究在之前的研究（Westerberg 1983; Basch 1987）的基础上，调查了BM铁器时代塞浦路斯船模型的生活，以便在船模型建造、使用和最终沉积的背景下，对船模型进行全面评估。因此，他们所讲述的故事有可能在未来的展览或新画廊等中承载相当大的“重量”，涉及地中海东部的海上联系。模型粘土船在塞浦路斯的青铜时代就已经为人所知，但在铁器时代更为常见。军舰和商船的模型都是已知的，其中一些模型上既有海军特征，也有人物形象。在塞浦路斯、欧洲、以色列和美国的博物馆里都可以找到这样的例子。这些模型构成了岛上和黎凡特中部地区生产粘土模型的更大传统的一部分，这是对兵马俑模型的日益增长的研究的重点，以及模型类型和风格的区域传播和采用，本研究也将参与其中（Insoll 2017）。模型船和其他微缩模型一样，在塞浦路斯的墓地和神殿中被发现，还有一些从海底打捞上来。在塞浦路斯境外发现了一些塞浦路斯船模。岛上的大量船模来自阿马萨斯港，萨拉米斯港和基蒂翁港也有少量船模，这可能反映了船舶对这些港口的重要性，也反映了这些港口当时在该地区的作用。这些模型船被用作讨论全尺寸船只、讨论古代地中海航海和反映塞浦路斯海洋文化的证据，尽管缺乏对这些特定模型、它们的年代、类型和背景的详细研究。这项研究也有助于讨论塞浦路斯在铁器时代海上网络和区域政治框架中的作用，并“重新审视腓尼基人的传统主导作用”。四个广泛的研究问题构成了这项研究的重点：为什么这些模型被制造、使用和存放——它与同时期其他塞浦路斯模型的“生活”不同吗？这些模型在阿玛索斯和萨拉米斯市的集中是否代表了过去的真正集中，或者它是收集偏见的产物？这些模型揭示了当时塞浦路斯文化中海洋活动和海洋的文化和象征重要性？这些模型能告诉我们它们所代表的全尺寸容器的形状、制造和使用吗？本研究的主要目标是更多地了解这些模型，以及它们可以讲述或参与的潜在故事，以告知博物馆如何通过这些小而有吸引力的物体吸引观众。这些船模型经常在博物馆展出，不仅仅是在大英博物馆，而且在未来，这些小船还能有更多的内容吗？因此，这项研究直接帮助大英博物馆实现了博物馆研究战略的主要目标，并支持了博物馆研究的四个方面中的两个，即对物品“生命”的研究和对物品可以揭示它们所处的文化和社会的研究。论文的结果将告知这些模型在博物馆的展示策略中设想的未来新的古代世界画廊的展示，这些画廊可能会关注地中海周围的海上联系。这项研究还建立在大英博物馆塞浦路斯藏品的工作和编目上，这些藏品自2005年以来由Leventis基金会资助，塞浦路斯画廊的重新展示，并将建立在以前博物馆关于文化之间海上联系重要性的工作上。

The fired clay model boats from Iron Age Cyprus (c.800 to 500 BC) in the British Museum's collection are some of the few three-dimensional representations of ancient Mediterranean ships in collections world wide. This research investigates the lives of the BM Iron Age Cypriot boat models, building on previous research (Westerberg 1983; Basch 1987) to approach a comprehensive assessment of the boat models, within the context in which they were constructed, used and eventually deposited. The stories they can tell therefore have the potential to carry considerable 'weight' in future exhibitions or new galleries etc. about maritime connections across the eastern Mediterranean. Model clay boats are known from Bronze Age contexts on Cyprus, but are more common from the Iron Age. Models of both warships and merchant ships are known, some with elaborate detail of both naval features and human figures. Examples can be found in Museums in Cyprus, Europe, Israel and USA. These models form part of a larger tradition of the production of clay models on the island and in the central Levantine region, a focus of growing research into terracotta figurine models, and the regional transmission and adoption of model types and styles, with which this research will also engage (Insoll 2017). Model boats, like other miniatures, have been found in burials and shrines on Cyprus, as well as a few recovered from the seafloor. There are some finds of Cypriot boat models outside of Cyprus. A large number of boat models from the island come from the port site of Amathus and to a lesser extent Salamis and Kition, which may reflect the importance of ships for these ports, and reflect the role of these ports in the region at the time. The model boats have been used as evidence to discuss full size vessels, to discuss ancient Mediterranean seafaring, and to reflect on Cypriot maritime culture, this is despite the lack of detailed study of these particular models, their chronology, typology and contexts. This research could also contribute to the debate on the role of Cyprus in Iron Age maritime networks and regional political frameworks, and 're-examine the supposedly/traditionally dominant role of the Phoenicians'.Four broad research questions form the focus of this research: Why were these models made, used and deposited - was it different to 'lives' of other Cypriot models of the same period?Do the concentration of these models at the city of Amathus and Salamis represent a real concentration in the past, or is it a product of collection bias?What do the models reveal about the cultural and symbolic importance of maritime activities and the sea in Cypriot cultural at the time?Can these models tell us about the shape, manufacture and use of the full sized vessels they represent?The key objective of this research is to understand more about these models and the potential stories they can tell or be part of, to inform how Museums can engage their audiences with these small, attractive, objects. These boat models regularly feature in Museum displays, not just at the BM, but can more be said about and through, these tiny ships in the future? As such, the research directly helps the BM achieve the principle objective of the Museum Research Strategy, and supports two of the four strands of the Museum's research, research on the 'lives' of objects and research on what objects can reveal about the culture and society of which they were part of. The results of the thesis will inform the display of these models in future new ancient world galleries envisaged in the Museum's Display Strategy that are likely to have a focus on maritime connections around the Mediterranean. The research also builds on the work and cataloguing of the BM's Cypriot collections funded by the Leventis Foundation since 2005, the redisplay of the Cypriot Gallery and will build on previous Museum work on the importance of maritime connections between cultures.