AWRC Maritime Day 2025

The AWRC Maritime Day features two 20-minute presentations: one by Leonie Hoff, who will speak on The Role of Maritime Topography in Religious Activity at Thonis-Heracleion, Egypt; and one by Christoph Bachhuber, who will speak on The Late Bronze Age Uluburun Shipwreck: 40 Years on from its Discovery.  The presentations will be followed by a punting expedition up the River Cherwell to the Victoria Arms for those who have rsvp'd, setting off at 15.30.

Thonis-Heracleion was a major port-city in the Late and Ptolemaic Periods of Egyptian history, which was discovered by the IEASM (European Institute of Underwater Archaeology) who have since been excavating the site. Notably, we can trace how the city's maritime topography extended its influence on the religious domain, affecting both votive and ritual practices of the city's inhabitants. Festivals such as the Osiris Mysteries, celebrated throughout much of Egypt, were adapted to the watery environment by involving processions of the cult image on a ritual barque along the main waterways of the city. Moreover, the city's waterways have been found to contain large quantities of potentially votive material, which will be the focus of this presentation.

 In this talk Christoph will offer an overview of the state of research on the Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck which sunk off the southern coast of Türkiye in the last decades of the 14th century BCE.