Newly Discovered: Anchor with the Cypriot Mark in the Levant

Off the coast of Israel, in a lagoon near the ancient port of Tel Dor, underwater archaeologists have been pulling history from the seafloor. A 2025 report in the journal Antiquity [1], led by Assaf Yasur-Landau, details the discovery of three Iron Age shipwrecks. These finds are providing a clearer picture of the maritime trade that connected the eastern Mediterranean after the great civilizations of the Bronze Age collapsed around 1200 BC.

Among the finds from the oldest of these wrecks, dated to the 11th century BC, was a collection of pottery, ballast stones, and one particularly significant object: a stone anchor. What made it so important wasn't its shape or size, which were typical for the period, but a symbol carved into its surface. The mark was a sign from Cypro-Minoan, the undeciphered script of ancient Cyprus. This single anchor, and the story it tells, is reshaping our understanding of who was sailing the seas during this pivotal era.

A Script We Can't Read (Yet)

Before we get to the anchor itself, it's worth understanding the scriptt. Cypro-Minoan is a syllabic writing system used on Cyprus from about the 16th to the 10th centuries BC. It is related to the Cretan scripts, Linear A and Linear B, but unlike Linear B (an early form of Greek), it has never been deciphered. There is no "Rosetta Stone" for Cypro-Minoan, and the small number of very short inscriptions makes the task incredibly difficult [2].

For years, scholars have tried to categorize the script into different subgroups (CM1, CM2, etc.), but the lines have always been blurry. Recent work by Martina Polig and Cassandra Donnelly, using high-resolution 3D scanning, has argued for treating it as a single, highly varied script [3]. They created a new "integrated signary," a comprehensive catalogue of 88 core signs and their many variations.

Cypro-Minoan Carving CM 102 found carved on a one-hole stone anchor

The sign on the Dor anchor is identified in this system as CM 102 [1]. The basic form looks like the letter 'H' with an extra horizontal bar across the middle. The Dor carving is a specific variation, "Variant 7," one of ten known ways this single sign was drawn. The fact that archaeologists can so precisely identify the mark, even if they can't read the language it represents, is a testament to the detailed study of the script. Finding this distinctively Cypriot sign on an anchor off the Israeli coast is what makes this discovery so exciting.

Examples of Cypro-Minoan Symbol 102

The Story of the Shipwreck: Cargo from Dor M

The anchor wasn't found by itself. It was part of a cargo assemblage designated "Dor M." This ship went down sometime in the 11th century BC, carrying a mix of international goods. The cargo included storage jars of a rare Phoenician type, known as Pedrazzi 5.2, which have only been found at a few major sites: Dor itself, Palaepaphos in Cyprus, Sarepta in Lebanon, and Tanis in Egypt [1]. The distribution of these jars alone sketches a map of an active trade route. Another jar from the wreck was painted with a number of signs in Egyptian Hieratic, the script of ancient Egypt [1].

The contents of the Dor M cargo show a ship engaged in a truly international network. It was carrying goods from or for the Phoenician coast, had connections to Egypt, and, as the anchor now proves, had a direct and explicit link to Cyprus. This wasn't just a generic Levantine trading vessel; it was a ship whose crew or owners identified themselves with the culture of Cyprus. This find would be significant on its own, but it's another discovery, made just up the coast, that confirms it's part of a bigger story.

A Second Anchor, A Clearer Pattern

Anchor #8 from Galili, E., & Rosen, B. (2015) with CM102 symbol

The Dor anchor is not a one-off discovery. In a 2015 paper, archaeologists Ehud Galili and Baruch Rosen reported on another Late Bronze Age stone anchor found in a shipwreck at Kfar Samir South, a short distance north of Dor [4]. That anchor was also a simple one-hole stone weight, and it was found among a cargo of copper and tin ingots—the very metals that made Cyprus a commercial powerhouse. Incredibly, the Kfar Samir anchor was inscribed with the exact same Cypro-Minoan sign: CM 102 [4].

Finding the same unique sign on two separate anchors from the same period and region changes everything. What might have been an isolated curiosity is now a clear pattern of behavior. Galili and Rosen argue that these marks were more than just owner's marks. To an ancient mariner, the anchor was a tool of survival, and marking it was a ritual act, a way of seeking divine protection for a safe journey [4]. These two anchors, marked with a distinctly Cypriot symbol, show that Cypriot seafarers were a recognizable presence on the Levantine coast, using their own script to invoke their own traditions.

Dor in the 11th Century BC: The World of Wenamun

The historical context for these voyages is brought into sharp focus by a famous Egyptian text, the Report of Wenamun. The story follows an Egyptian official, Wenamun, on a mission to Byblos to buy cedarwood. His journey, which takes place in the 11th century BC, is a catalogue of frustrations. The local kings of the Levant no longer bow to Egyptian power, and Wenamun is treated more like an ordinary merchant than an imperial envoy.

His first stop is the port of Dor, which he calls a "town of the Tjeker," one of the Sea Peoples who had settled the coast [5]. He gets into a dispute with the local prince, Beder, after being robbed by one of his own crewmen. The story illustrates that Dor was an independent, cosmopolitan port outside of Egyptian control. Ephraim Stern’s long-running excavations at the site confirm this, revealing a prosperous harbor town with a unique material culture [6]. The Dor M shipwreck, with its mix of Phoenician, Egyptian, and Cypriot elements, is the perfect archaeological snapshot of this world. It was a place where a Cypriot-crewed ship could easily have been moored, trading alongside vessels from across the eastern Mediterranean.

Why Mark an Anchor?

In the rough-and-tumble world of Iron Age maritime trade, identity and security were critical. For a sailor, the anchor was the most important piece of safety equipment on board. Marking it with a symbol was a practical way of claiming ownership, but it likely went much deeper. By carving a sign from their homeland onto the anchor, sailors were placing it, and their voyage, under the protection of their own gods.

The choice of script is what's most revealing. The crew of the Dor M ship didn't use a common symbol or a sign from the more dominant cultures they were trading with. They used their own. This was a clear statement of identity. In a foreign port, this mark distinguished their gear and connected them to their home. The CM 102 sign was, in a very real sense, a Cypriot prayer carved in stone [2, 4, 5].

Conclusion

The discovery of the inscribed anchor at Dor, reinforced by the Kfar Samir parallel, provides direct physical evidence for the activities of Cypriot sailors in the Levant during the 11th century BC. These were not simply passive middlemen in a Phoenician-dominated trade network; they were an independent and culturally distinct group, actively sailing their own ships and practicing their own traditions.

This small stone anchor challenges us to see the period after the Bronze Age collapse not as a dark age, but as an era of dynamic realignment. It was a time when new groups, like the Sea Peoples at Dor and these enterprising Cypriots, vied for control of the sea lanes. The anchor from the Dor M cargo is a small object that tells a big story, giving us a rare glimpse into the identity and beliefs of the people who reconnected the ancient world.