Two ancient anchors uncovered in the Dead Sea on display at the Israel Museum are proof of the area's thriving economy some 2,000 years before the modern day construction of hotels and the Dead Sea Works on the shores of the world's lowest "lake."

One of the anchors dates back to the Roman period, and the archaeologist who found it says it may have belonged to King Herod's ship.

Mediterranean Sea water has three percent salinity, while the Dead Sea's salinity is 10 times greater. That's why metal sections of ships that sail on the Dead Sea corrode rapidly. Nevertheless, the famous sixth-century Madaba map indicates that in ancient times, shipping traffic on the sea bustled. "The Ein Gedi oasis was an important agricultural center where persimmon oil, a much sought-after perfume in the ancient world, was made," says the Israel Museum exhibition's curator, Dudi Mevorach.

The Dead Sea also was a main center of salt mining. The salt yielded there was used primarily for food preservation, asphalt, sealant and glue. Mevorach notes that there was no land route along the Dead Sea in ancient times, because the water level was much higher, and in many places reached the edge of nearby cliffs. As a result, sailing was the only transportation means in the area at the time.

Seashore discovery

The anchors were discovered by Gideon Hadas, an archaeologist and member of Kibbutz Ein Gedi, while hiking along the seashore. The annual one meter drop in the water level in recent years helped expose the two anchors. Hadas uncovered the first anchor in December 2003 when he noticed a wooden rod protruding from a one-meter wide chunk of gypsum. With the help of a group of volunteers and Ein Gedi's emergency rescue team, he was able to retrieve the 600-kg anchor, which was transported to the kibbutz. Using a hammer and chisel, Hadas and an Antiquities Authority crew took apart the chunk of rock and revealed the anchor itself, which was made from jujube wood, lead weights and ropes made from date palm fiber. Laboratory tests revealed the anchor is from the first century BCE, when the area was ruled by the Hasmoneans, King Herod and the Roman conquerors.

Hadas says the anchor he uncovered in the Dead Sea differs in at least one important respect from several other anchors from the same period uncovered in the Mediterranean Sea: the chemical composition of the Mediterranean's water led to the decomposition and disintegration of the anchor's organic materials, that is, its wood and ropes. The Dead Sea anchor, however, underwent a reverse process: the minerals led to the melting of the lead, but adequately preserved the wood and ropes.

Hadas admits that on the anchor itself, there is no proof it belonged to Herod's royal yacht. However, "Herod simply fits into the story perfectly." One of the reasons for this is that the anchor was made according to Roman technology, and included a large chunk of lead imported from abroad. He says the size of the anchor indicates it was on a large ship, at least seven-meters long.

"We know that Herod spent a lot of time traveling around the area, going from the sulfur baths on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea to his palace on Masada and his winter palace in Jericho. Who else, besides him, could have bought himself a large boat with parts imported from abroad?" Hadas says he also expects to uncover Herod's ship. With that in mind, he recently embarked on a systematic shore survey along the sea's northern basin.

Ancient community

Hadas found the second anchor some weeks later, directly across the spot where the ancient community of Ein Gedi was located. It is a simple anchor made of wood, and it is estimated to date back to between the eighth and fifth century BCE.

Hadas says the anchor prompts many questions. "The fact that we don't have an exact age of the anchor leaves open many possibilities. It could be an anchor from a Jewish ship from the late First Temple period, but it can't be ruled out that it belonged to a Phoenician or even Persian ship."