Late Bronze Age · About 1300 BC

The Uluburun shipwreck: Bronze Age trade

Around 1300 BC a ship loaded with copper, tin, glass, ivory and gold sank off the coast of Anatolia. Students unpack its cargo, trace each item to its homeland on the map, and discover how connected the Bronze Age world was.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 1300 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Around 1300 BC a ship loaded with copper, tin, glass, ivory and gold sank off the coast of Anatolia. Students unpack its cargo, trace each item to its homeland on the map, and discover how connected the Bronze Age world was.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Uluburun wreck and the lands its cargo came from.
  • Explain why copper and tin were so important in the Bronze Age.
  • Describe how trade connected the kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

1300 BC

Off the Lycian coast

Open the map in 1300 BC and zoom in on the rocky coast near Kaş in southwestern Anatolia. In 1982 a sponge diver saw "metal biscuits with ears" on the seabed here. What do you think they were?

Open this view on the map
b

1300 BC

The Amber Road

Turn on Trade Routes and find the Amber Road from the Baltic coast to the Adriatic. Baltic amber beads were found on the ship. How many hands might they have passed through?

Open this view on the map
c

1300 BC

Tin from the far west

Find the Tin Route from Cornwall and Brittany. Bronze needs tin, and tin was rare in the Mediterranean. Why would a metal from so far away be worth the journey?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The ship carried copper and tin in roughly the right amounts to make bronze. Why was bronze so valuable?
  2. Its cargo came from many different lands. What does that say about the Bronze Age world?
  3. A gold scarab with the name of Queen Nefertiti was on board. How can a small object help to date a shipwreck?
  4. Was the cargo a royal gift between kings or ordinary trade for profit? What clues would help you decide?
  5. If this trade network broke down, which kingdoms would suffer first? Why?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Ramesses II, who ruled Egypt soon after the Uluburun ship sank. Discuss: Egypt had gold but needed tin and timber from abroad. How might trade have shaped his decisions about war and peace?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.