From BAR – The Galilee Boat—2,000-Year-Old Hull Recovered Intact by Shelley Wachsmann
Samples of the Galilee boat’s wood, each weighing several grams, were removed and sent to a laboratory. Using gas proportional counters, which count the radioactive decay events that occur within the carbon 14, the amount of radioactive carbon 14 in the sample relative to the amount of stable carbon 12 was measured. Knowing how long it takes for half the atoms of carbon 14 to decay—namely 5,568 years—it was possible to calculate, based on the current proportion of isotopes present, how old the boat was when it was made (that is, when the living trees used for it were cut). Ten samples from different parts of the boat were counted. The result was that the boat began its life as a fishing vessel on the Sea of Galilee in 40 B.C., plus or minus 80 years, or between 120 B.C. and 40 A.D.
Courtesy Israel Dept. of Antiquities and Museums/Photo: Danny Friedman
Oars poised, a boat in a first-century A.D. mosaic remains forever at sea. Decorating a house in the Galilee seaside town of Migdal, only a mile from the discovery site of the Galilee boat, the mosaic boat appears to be propelled by six oars, three on each side. However, the sternmost oar widens at its base and therefore should be interpreted as a steering oar, or quarter rudder. Thus, this mosaic boat may resemble the Galilee boat, which probably had four rowers (two on each side) and a helmsman who steered with the quarter rudder. From BAR here.
