I like to think of the Philistines as the Phoenicians. And I like to think of the Phoenicians as the Myceneans. And the Myceneans, of course, were the ancient Greeks who fought in the Trojan War of Homer’s Iliad. If this is the case, then maybe Agamemnon’s grandson was Goliath (of David and Goliath fame). And if that’s the case, then Goliath would have traveled around the Mediterranean Sea in something like this.
If you want to trade with Carthage, Sicily, Egypt, Crete, and Israel in 1000 BC, then you've got to have one of these. The gated area in the middle keeps all the merchant goods from falling overboard during a storm. The green amphora holds water (or wine) for the journey. The stands keep the entire thing from toppling onto the counter. Rowers would stand up on the perimeter and, well, grab an oar.