High-precision dating the Akko 1 shipwreck, Israel: Wiggle-matching the life and death of a ship into the historical record

The Akko 1 shipwreck is the remains of an eastern Mediterranean naval or auxiliary brig, which was found inside the ancient harbor of Akko, Israel. The shipwreck and finds were recorded underwater, and some of the ship components, along with the majority of the finds, were retrieved and analyzed. A Bayesian dating model, incorporating ¹⁴C wiggle-matching of the ship timbers, tree-ring analysis, and ¹⁴C dates from short-lived finds, is used to model the ship's construction and wrecking dates. These new data, combined with the results of archaeological research and available historical records, suggest that the ship was built during the first third of the 19th century as part of Muhammad Ali's fleet. Akko 1 then possibly plied the eastern Mediterranean under the Egyptian flag during the First Egyptian-Ottoman War in 1831-1833. The wrecking event apparently occurred during the 1840 naval bombardment of Akko. This is the first time that ¹⁴C wiggle-matching and Bayesian analyses have been used to date the construction and wrecking of a shipwreck in the southeastern Mediterranean. The results show that Bayesian analysis and ¹⁴C wiggle-matching techniques are valuable tools for analyzing the region's shipwrecks, including those from recent historical periods.