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

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.