Three massive stone anchors recently found near Ein Gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea, are well over 2,000 years old, according to scientists at the carbondating laboratory of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
They are the first datable evidence of ancient maritime traffic on the desolate lake, which lies at the lowest point below sea level on the Earth’s surface.
The anchors were found with their mooring ropes intact. That provided organic material for the carbon testing.
The ropes were preserved by the high saline content of the Dead Sea waters, according to Dr. Arie Nissenbaum of the Weizmann Institute.
The anchors weigh between 240 and 300 pounds. They are believed to have sunk to the sea bottom between the years 460 and 260 BCE.
They could be relies of a naval battle in 312 BCE that resulted in the defeat of the Syrian king, Antigonus, who wanted to wrest the monopoly of Dead Sea asphalt from the local inhabitants.
It was probably the world’s first oil war, Nissenbaum remarked.
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