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Reuters / Cascais Town Hall
The project leader called the wreck "very well preserved"
Archaeologists have discovered a wreck of 400 years off the coast of Portugal, according to what one of the specialists called the "discovery of a decade".
Spices, ceramics and guns engraved with the Coat of Arms of Portugal lie around the wreck near Cascais, near the capital Lisbon.
The team thinks the boat was coming back from India when it sank between 1575 and 1625.
It was at the peak of the spice trade of Portugal with Asia.
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The project director, Jorge Freire, told the Reuters news agency that the wreckage was very well preserved at 12 meters below the surface.
"From a heritage point of view, it's the discovery of the decade," he said, calling it "the most important discovery of all time" for the country.
Author's right of the image
Reuters / Cascais Town Hall
Author's right of the image
Reuters / Cascais Town Hall
Author's right of the image
Reuters / Cascais Town Hall
Chinese porcelain from the late 16th and early 17th centuries was also among the wrecks, as were the bronze artillery pieces and cowrie shells used in the slave trade.
The Cascais City Council said the ship was discovered in early September when dredging the mouth of the Tagus, which runs through the resort across Lisbon.
Mayor Carlos Carreiras told The Guardian newspaper that it was an "extraordinary discovery", which would strengthen their "collective identity and common values".
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The discovery is part of a 10-year archaeological project supported by the city of Cascais, the Portuguese Government and Navy and the Nova University in Lisbon.
The Minister of Culture, Luis Mendes, said that the mouth of the Tagus was considered a "hotspot" for shipwrecks.
"This discovery has come to prove it," he said.
Author's right of the image
Reuters
Author's right of the image
Reuters
Author's right of the image
Reuters
