Three shipwrecks from biblical times uncovered off the coast of Israel

Some of the finds of a cargo from the Iron Age retrieved in the Dor Lagoon in northern Israel, in a discovery announced in August 2025: a) iron blooms; b) basket-handle amphora base containing resin; c) basket-handle

amphora handles; d) a basket-handle amphora base containing grape seeds

The remains of three shipwrecks and their cargoes from the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE) have been retrieved in the ancient harbor of Dor, on the Carmel Coast in northern Israel, according to an academic paper recently published by the prestigious journal Antiquity. The discovery marks the first time shipwrecks from those times have been uncovered in Israeli waters.

The Iron Age, also known as the First Temple Period, encompasses the centuries during which a significant portion of the events described in the Hebrew Bible are said to have occurred. At least for part of the time, in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, Dor was likely under the rule of the Kingdom of Israel.

While almost nothing of the actual ships has survived, the remains of their cargoes, dating to the 11th, 9th, and 7th/6th centuries BCE, provide important insights into the trade routes of a crucial period in the region’s history. Among other things, the findings challenge the long-held belief among many scholars that little commerce took place under the biblical kingdoms.

In addition, shipwrecks from the Iron Age are extremely rare, with only 11 such finds ever recorded in the whole Mediterranean basin.

“Tel Dor is one of the few Iron Age ports that have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean,” Prof. Thomas Levy from the University of California, San Diego, told The Times of Israel at a meeting in Jerusalem last month. “A little bit to its south, the Dor Lagoon, or Tantura Lagoon, is very rich in ships.”

Levy, one of the paper’s authors, explained that discoveries from the Iron Age are rare for practical rather than historical reasons.

“Underwater archeology is a very expensive endeavor,” he said. “Scholars who are interested in maritime archaeology usually deal with later times, like the Hellenist and Roman periods.”

The shipwrecks were uncovered during underwater excavations in 2023-2024 codirected by Levy and by Prof. Assaf Yasur-Landau from the University of Haifa, who also authored the study.

Levy described the Tantura Lagoon, which is named after a Palestinian village that existed on its shore until 1948, as a “trap for ships,” with its shallow waters, islets, and rocks.

Over the decades, researchers have identified the remains of at least 26 ships and cargoes from various time periods. Only a fraction of them have been excavated.

The three Iron Age shipwrecks were found one on top of the other. Some of the remains had already been identified by underwater archaeologists in the past, but dated to different periods.

“We uncovered three superimposed Iron Age wrecks, similar to the stratigraphy that could be found on an ancient tel [an archaeological mound], but underwater,” Levy said.

The findings at Dor included mostly pottery, such as basket-handle amphoras, and storage jars.

The remains of the ships’ wood do not easily survive, often due to human intervention, Levy explained.

“Because these ships went down in such shallow water, it was very easy for people to dive in and scavenge the good stuff,” he said. “Wood was very valuable. It was used again for other crafts.”

Levy stated that the remains were dated by combining pottery typology with radiocarbon analysis of the organic remains that survived underwater thanks to the anaerobic environment created by the sand. The organic materials included seed and resin found in the amphoras.

“Each period has a very typical assemblage of pottery, and then we also did radiocarbon dating,” he explained. “Combining them together, we have a pretty rigorous understanding of the dating.”

The most recent cargo, dated to the 7th/6th centuries, included remains of basket-handled jars, iron blooms (a combination of iron and slag obtained during the smelting process of iron ores), stones that were likely used to balance the boat, and a wood-and-lead anchor.

The second shipwreck contained Phoenician-style jars (three of them intact) and a few bowls that were likely used by the crew.

The earliest cargo consisted of remains of jars typical of the earliest part of the Iron Age (12th/11th centuries BCE), as well as an anchor and balancing stones. At least two jars appear to carry some writing, perhaps in Cypro-Minoan. The study of the inscriptions is ongoing.

The biblical centuries

The centuries when the ships sailed and sank are of great significance in the history of the land of Israel.

Levy suggested that the findings offer “kind of a snapshot of the process” that took place over time.

“Before the Iron Age, in the late Bronze Age, we probably had the first period of international commerce run by the big ancient civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean, including the Hittites, the Mycenaeans, and the New Kingdom of Egypt,” he said.

Around 1200 BCE, these entities and the commercial networks they built are believed to have disintegrated.

“After the collapse of those Eastern Mediterranean civilizations, the Iron Age polities had different economic responses to what had happened,” Levy said.

The trade networks gradually recovered. The shipwrecks off the coast of Dor are part of what the researchers in the paper described as “a growing body of evidence” showing “that the coast of modern-day Israel played a role in Iron Age Mediterranean maritime connectivity and integration in the eleventh–seventh centuries BC.”

In the 11th century, Dor was a crucial location in the trade between Egypt and Cyprus, as reflected in contemporary historical sources. However, its political affiliation remains unclear.

“In the earliest phase, we probably are dealing with some of the Sea Peoples that are mentioned in ancient Egyptian sources,” Levy said.

The 11th and 10th centuries BCE also mark the period that some scholars associate with the reigns of biblical David and Solomon over a powerful kingdom, often referred to as the “United Monarchy.” Others argue that no such kingdom existed, or that it was merely a small, loosely organized chiefdom centered around Jerusalem.

“After the division of the United Monarchy into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah, Dor was located in the territory of Israel,” Levy said. “Therefore, in the ninth century, it was probably part of the Israelite kingdom.”

Many scholars believe that international trade in the region declined during that era. However, as the researchers noted in the paper, the newly discovered cargo demonstrates that maritime commerce was still occurring, albeit it might have remained more local than in other periods.

Finally, during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, Dor was controlled by the Assyrian Empire, which conquered and destroyed Israel in the late 8th century, and then by the Babylonians. The settlement functioned once again as an important maritime trade center.

“At this point, we are no longer dealing with small, Iron Age polities, but with big, Mesopotamian empires that extended their power into this area, and wanted control of the maritime networks that had historically been controlled by the small kingdoms,” Levy said.

According to the scholar, research on the Iron Age cargoes is just in its initial stages. The team also plans to go back for another season of underwater excavation in May.

“This cache of cargoes is providing enough data for nine new scientific papers,” Levy said, praising the expertise guaranteed by the University of Haifa, which has long focused on underwater archaeology.

“Excavating underwater is very complex,” he noted. “To achieve excellent scientific results, you need a very competent team.”

Remains of an anchor and some jars from a cargo dating to the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE) retrieved in the Dor Lagoon in northern Israel, in a discovery announced in August 2025. 

Asked if he considered the ships a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, Levy was not convinced.

“I can’t help but think that we will find more,” he said. “This is just the beginning of an unbelievable Iron Age project.”