A Cargo of Lead Ingots from an Eleventh–Thirteenth-Centuries CE Shipwreck off the Ashqelon Coast (Hebrew, pp. 131–137; English summary, p. 76*)

Fifty-seven lead ingots were discovered on the seabed west of Tel Ashqelon, their total average weight reaching c. 4 tons. These finds shed light on the nature of shipping and commerce along the Ashqelon coast during the eleventh–thirteenth centuries CE. A survey of the written evidence, concerning the importation of lead to Israel, is encountered, as well as an attempt to reconstruct the vessel type that transported the lead and the reason for its wreckage.