Rat skeletons found in the ancient wreck of a cargo ship that sank off the coast of Israel provide valuable new historical knowledge, according to researchers at the University of Haifa. Skeletons of dead rats on board the Ma’gan Mikhael B, dated between 648 and 740 CE, helped the team learn more about the life of the ship that once sailed in the Mediterranean. Speaking to Insider, Sierra Harding, the zoo archaeologist at the site, said the remains were the oldest and only direct evidence of rat infestation in an ancient Mediterranean shipwreck. Rat remains were found on the ship Ma’gan Michael B A. Efremov He explained that some of the remains are black rats, a species that traveled with traders in the Middle East from South Asia and India more than 2,000 years ago. However, using dental morphology, they discovered that other rats were “exotic in the area”. Preliminary findings suggest they may have originated in Tunisia or Corsica in the central Mediterranean. “If it is confirmed that some of these rats were in fact as far away as the islands of the central Mediterranean – this really means that there was much more communication, shipping, exchange and trade that took place during this period which is depicted mainly as military and “naval battles,” he said.
Details of the ship’s diverse crew
An impressive array of preserved artifacts discovered on the sunken ship helped complete the picture of life on the ancient merchant ship. A 2020 preliminary report by the University of Haifa team found “the largest marine cargo complex of Byzantine and early Islamic ceramics discovered along the Israeli coast to date.” He revealed that the 82-foot-long boat had a cargo of walnuts from Turkey and fish sauce from the Sea of Galilee. The study also provides information on the ship’s diverse crew, with Christian crosses, Muslim blessings (for example, the word “Bismillah” meaning in the name of God) and Greek and Arabic letters engraved on the walls, Harding told Insider. No human remains were found in the wreck, indicating that the crew reached land when the ship ran aground off the coast. Aerial view of the excavation on the Ma’gan ship Michael B R. Levinson When the ship sank off the coast of Israel, it was immediately covered in up to seven feet of sand, helping to maintain its secrecy, Harding said. The study is led by an international team of researchers such as Harding, Dr. Ardern Hulme-Beaman from the University of Liverpool, Dr. Nimrod Marom from the University of Haifa and Professor Deborah Cvikel from the University of Haifa are the lead researchers in the study.
