A team of British and Bulgarian researchers have discovered an almost "intact" ancient Greek boat by 2 kilometers deep in the Black Sea.
This ship found at the bottom of the Black Sea is 2400 years old.
Oldest "intact" wreck (that is to say, almost entire) in the world would have been found at the bottom of the Black Sea! This was announced on October 23, 2018 by the Anglo-Bulgarian scientific expedition Black Sea MAP (for Maritime Archeology Project ). The ship found, in good condition given its age, still including the mast and the rudder, would be a Greek trading ship, dating back to 400 BC. It is located about two kilometers deep, in the western area of the Black Sea.
"There's still the mast and the rudder, you don't see that every day"
The Black Sea MAP expedition surveyed the Black Sea floor over 2,000 km² off the coast of Bulgaria for three years using sonar and a remote-controlled vehicle equipped with cameras designed for deep-sea exploration. . "We had already discovered pieces of wreckage that date back to an older time, but this one seems intact" , Archaeologist Helen Farr, associated with the project, told the BBC. "She's resting on one side, there's still the mast, the rudder, you don't see that every day."
During their expedition, the team discovered more than 60 shipwrecks dating back to ancient times, Roman times and as far back as the 17th century. The new discovery was found at a depth where the water is devoid of oxygen and can "hold organic matter for thousands of years" , said the Black Sea Map team, adding that the wreckage has been carbon-14 dated. The team has announced that it will publish its results in a scientific journal at a conference scheduled for the end of October 2018.
Wrecks discovered by serendipity
The study initially focused on the evolution of sea level and the immersion of the Black Sea region. The discovery of the wrecks"is a happy consequence" of this research, added Helen Farr. This expedition was led jointly by the University of Southampton and the National Archaeological Museum of the United Kingdom, but also the Academy of Sciences and the Center for Underwater Archeology of Bulgaria.
"I would never have thought that it would be possible to find intact, and two kilometers deep, a ship dating from antiquity", said Professor Jon Adams, director of the Center for Maritime Archeology at the University of Southampton (south of England), one of the leaders of the expedition. "This discovery will change our understanding of ancient shipbuilding and navigation", he added in a statement. This "type Greek trading vessel" had so far only been observed on (the decorations of) ancient Greek pottery ", the scientists pointed out.
Note that the images of this wreck were reconstructed by photogrammetry from thousands of high resolution photos taken by ROVs, underwater robots which inspected the wreck from every angle.