The oldest intact shipwreck discovered in the Black Sea | Smart News

Archaeologists know a little about the design of the ancient ships of the classical world since the Greeks loved to decorate their pottery with images of impressive wooden military ships and cargo ships that sailed the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. With the exception of some precious wood debris, the ships themselves have long since disappeared. But researchers from the Black Sea have discovered something unbelievable.

Kevin Rawlinson at The Guardian reports that the Black Sea Maritime Archeology Project (MAP) discovered a Greek merchant ship installed on the seabed, dating back about 400 years BC. BC, the oldest shipwreck intact and known to date.

The MAP team discovered the ship 50 miles off the Bulgarian coast. Because the water in the lower parts of the Black Sea is anoxic or lacks oxygen, the wooden cargo ship has not deteriorated much since it sank to the bottom from the ocean centuries ago. His mast, his rudders, the cargo in his hold and even the seats where the rowers sat were still well preserved.

The ship was discovered during a three year project. During this time, the team located 60 ships using advanced laser scanning and photogrammetry techniques to create 3D images of the ships. The 24 meter Greek vessel was discovered during the final phase of the mission, in the summer of 2017. A small piece of wood was found in the wreckage and dated to the radiocarbon, thus confirming its pedigree 2,400 years old.

"An intact ship of the classic world, more than 2 km long [1.2 miles] I never thought it possible to find water, "says archaeologist Jon Adams of the University of Southampton and the principal investigator of the MAP project in a press release of the Black Sea. "This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and navigation in the ancient world."

It is believed that the vessel is a merchant ship similar to a merchant ship depicted on the Siren vessel in the British Museum. The vase, which dates to about the same time as the ship, is an image of the hero Ulysses stuck to the mast to resist the Sirens song, which, according to mythology, would have used their hypnotic song to attract sailors to the ship. sinking on their rocks. island.

The objective of the Black Sea was not primarily to find shipwrecks. The crew was rather interested in using the latest high tech mapping technology to study the seabed and understand how the sea level had changed in the water mass since the last period glacial. However, the radar also spotted the sites of ships with more than 2,500 years of maritime history, including Roman ships, Greek ships, Cossack raiding ships, and so on. The team also discovered a Bronze Age colony in Ropotamo, Bulgaria in a sheltered harbor often used by Greek, Ottoman and Byzantine sailors.

While the ships are generally covered with sediment, their masts and shapes are still often visible to the naked eye and the sonar and laser scans reveal even more details.

Helen Farr, a marine archaeologist and member of the MAP Expedition, told the BBC: "It's like another world. "That's when the ROV [remote operated vehicle] go down into the water column and you see this ship appear in the light of the light at the bottom, so perfectly preserved that you have the impression of going back in time. "

It is not planned to save the Greek ship because it is extremely fragile, and the team did not reveal its exact location to protect it from looters. The team will present a document and more technical details on the discovery later this week.

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