Greece
2500 year old ancient ship discovered on the sea floor – it was loaded with hundreds of amphorae
The ancient wreck on the sea floor
© Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO)
Purely by chance, a surprisingly well-preserved shipwreck was found off the Greek coast that has been lying on the sea floor for more than 2000 years.
Actually, only power cables on the ocean floor should be serviced when the responsible technicians discovered something unexpected underwater: off the coast of the Greek island of Kythera, instead of corals, fish or rubbish, they discovered a shipwreck. A closer look showed the employees of the electricity supplier IPTO (Independent Power Transmission Operator) quickly that it was not a boat that had sunk within the past few years. This had to be a lot older.
The technicians informed the Greek Center for Marine Research, which quickly took care of the find. With the help of a remote-controlled “robot submarine”, the “Max Rover”, they inspected the wreck at a depth of around 221 meters and were able to film countless amphorae – large carafes with long necks and two handles on each side – that the ship was using was loaded. They could even determine that the containers came from the surrounding islands of Corfu, Skopelos and Chios, so there must have been trade in the region a long time ago.
Trading in Greece started thousands of years ago
But how long ago? Analyzes of the wood used in shipbuilding showed that the merchant ship must have sunk around 2500 years ago. It has been in surprisingly good condition for this long time. The scientists are currently working on creating a 3D scan of the site so that the location and cargo of the wreck can later be examined in detail on the computer. The contents of the amphorae should also be examined more closely, if possible. In any case, this find is impressive proof of how mobile and networked people were thousands of years ago, despite the obvious dangers of traveling across the sea.
Source: “Daily Mail”