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A 3,300 year old one ship has been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterraneanmaking it one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered and rewriting our understanding of sailing in the ancient world, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The ship is estimated to date from the 13th or 14th century BC, the authority said in a statement. It was discovered 90 kilometers (about 56 miles) from the coast, in waters 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) deep, with hundreds of intact pots still on board, the statement said.
The ship’s remains were found during an environmental survey of the seabed by London-based natural gas production company Energean, said Karnit Bahartan, head of the company’s environmental team.
During the investigation, an “unusual sight of what appeared to be a large group of urns” was discovered, Bahartan said. This turned out to be a “sensational discovery, more than any of us could have imagined,” she added.
Energean then conducted an operation to recover the pots from the wreckage – which will be displayed this summer at the newly constructed Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archeology of Israel in Jerusalem.
Yaakov Sharvit, director of the Maritime Archeology Unit at the antiquities authority, said the ship may have been wrecked by a storm or an encounter with pirates.
“This is the first and earliest shipwreck discovered so far in the deep sea of the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said.
Sharvit said the jugs found on board were commercial vessels likely containing oil, wine or other agricultural products such as fruit, indicating maritime trade took place by sea.
Previous knowledge of the way ships traded suggested that journeys were made from port to port, rather than across open sea areas, with those on board still being able to see the coast.
“The ship just discovered changes the understanding of sailing in the ancient world,” says Sharvit.
“This is a world-class sensation: the discovery shows the impressive navigational skills of the ancients – who made it possible to cross the Mediterranean Sea without any eye contact with the coast – as from this distance you can only see the horizon line. he added.
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