A 2,400-year-old: World’s Oldest Intact Shipwreck Found at the Bottom of the Black Sea

At the bottom of the Black Sea, the oldest preserved shipwreck ever found has been discovered. After more than 2,400 years, the 75ft Greek trade vessel was discovered lying whole with its anchor, rudders and rowing benches. It was discovered in a well-known ‘shipwreck graveyard’ that has already revealed over 60 other vessels.

The team found what has now been confirmed as the “oldest intact shipwreck” in the world during the most recent excavation, a Greek trade vessel style previously only seen on the side of ancient Greek pottery such as the “Siren Vase” in the British Museum.

The ship, found 1.3 miles under the surface, could shed new light on the ancient Greek tale of Odysseus tying himself to a mast to avoid being tempted by sirens. The vase shows Odysseus, the hero from Homer’s epic poem, tied to the mast of a similar ship as he resisted the Siren’s calls.

A remote-controlled submarine piloted by British scientists spotted the ship lying on its side about 50 miles off the coast of Bulgaria. The ship lies in over 1.3miles of water, deep in the Black Sea where the water is anoxic (oxygen-free) which can preserve organic material for thousands of years. A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as coming from 400BC – making the ship the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind.

Jon Adams, the project’s chief scientist, said the wreck was very well-preserved, with the rudder and tiller still in place.  A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over 2km of water, is something I would never have believed possible,’ he said

This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world.’ Prior to this discovery, ancient ships had only been found in fragments with the oldest more than 3,000 years old.  The team from the Black Sea Maritime Archaeological Project said the find also revealed how far from the shore ancient Greek traders could travel.     

Adams told The Times the ship probably sank in a storm, with the crew unable to bail water in time to save it. The archaeologist believes it probably held 15 to 25 men at the time whose remains may be hidden in the surrounding sediment or eaten by bacteria. He said he plans to leave the ship on the seabed because raising it would be hugely expensive and require taking the pint joints apart.

The ship was both oar and sail-powered. 

It was chiefly used for trading but the professor believes it may have been involved in a little bit of raiding’ of coastal cities. It was probably based at one of the ancient Greek settlements on what is now the Bulgarian coast.

He said: ‘Ancient seafarers were not hugging the coast timidly going from port to port but going blue-water sailing.’

The find is one of 67 wrecks found in the area.

Previous finds were discovered dating back as far as 2,500 years, including galleys from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Scientists stumbled upon the graveyard while using underwater robots to survey the effects of climate change along the Bulgarian coast.  Because the Black Sea contains almost no light or oxygen, little life can survive, meaning the wrecks are in excellent condition.

Researchers say their discovery is ‘truly unrivalled’. 

Many of the ships have features that are only known from drawings or written description but never seen until now.  Carvings in the wood of some ships have remained intact for centuries, while the well-preserved rope was found aboard one 2,000-year-old Roman vessel. The project, known Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (Black Sea MAP), involves an international team led by the University of Southampton’s Centre for Maritime Archaeology.

Ed Parker, CEO of Black Sea MAP, said: ‘Some of the ships we discovered had only been seen on murals and mosaics until this moment. There’s one medieval trading vessel where the towers on the bow and stern are pretty much still there. It’s as if you are looking at a ship in a movie, with ropes still on the deck and carvings in the wood.

‘When I saw that ship, the excitement really started to mount – what we have found is truly unrivalled.’ Most of the vessels found are around 1,300 years old, but the oldest dates back to the 4th Century BC. Many of the wrecks’ details and locations are being kept secret by the team to ensure they remain undisturbed. Black Sea water below 150 metres (490 ft) is anoxic, meaning the environment cannot support the organisms that typically feast on organic materials, such as wood and flesh.

As a result, there is an extraordinary opportunity for preservation, including shipwrecks and the cargoes they carried. Ships lie hundreds or thousands of metres deep with their masts still standing, rudders in place, cargoes of amphorae and ship’s fittings lying on the deck. Many of the ships show structural features, fittings and equipment that are only known from drawings or written description but never seen until now.

Project leader Professor Jon Adams, of the University of Southampton, said: ‘This assemblage must comprise one of the finest underwater museums of ships and seafaring in the world.’

The expedition has been scouring the waters 1,800 metres (5,900ft) below the surface of the Black Sea since 2015 using an off-shore vessel equipped with some of the most advanced underwater equipment in the world. The vessel is on an expedition mapping submerged ancient landscapes which were inundated with water following the last Ice Age. The researchers had discovered over 40 wrecks across two previous expeditions, but during their latest trip, which spanned several weeks and returned this month, they uncovered more than 20 new sites.

Returning to the Port of Burgas in Bulgaria, Professor Jon Adams said: ‘Black Sea MAP now draws towards the end of its third season, acquiring more than 1300km [800 miles] of the survey so far, recovering another 100m (330 ft) of sediment core samples and discovering over 20 new wreck sites, some dating to the Byzantine, Roman and Hellenistic periods.’  

The researchers are using two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to survey the sea bed. One is optimised for high-resolution 3D photography, while the other, called Surveyor Interceptor, ‘flies’ at four times the speed of conventional ROVs. The Interceptor carries an entire suite of geophysical instrumentation, as well as lights, high definition cameras and a laser scanner.  Since the project started, Surveyor Interceptor has set new records for depth at 5,900ft (1,800 metres) and sustained speed of over six knots (7mph), and has covered 1,250 kilometres (776 miles). Among the wrecks are shipped from the Roman, Ottoman and Byzantine Empires, which provide new information on the communities on the Black Sea coast.

Many of the colonial and commercial activities of ancient Greece and Rome, and of the Byzantine Empire, centred on the Black Sea.  After 1453, when the Ottoman Turks occupied Constantinople – and changed its name to Istanbul – the Black Sea was virtually closed to foreign commerce.  Nearly 400 years later, in 1856, the Treaty of Paris re-opened the sea to the commerce of all nations. The scientists were followed by Bafta-winning filmmakers for much of the three-year project and a documentary is expected in the coming years. Producer Andy Byatt, who worked on the David Attenborough BBC series ‘Blue Planet’, said: ‘I think we have all been blown away by the remarkable finds that Professor Adams and his team have made.

‘The quality of the footage revealing this hidden world is absolutely unique.’

A trove of ‘Ancient Treasures’ Found in Shipwreck Off the Coast of Greece

That was when researchers in Greece made the breakthrough of a lifetime in the fall of 2020. There were four shipwrecks just off the beaches of the island of Kasos. These shipwrecks span millennia, but they also contained ancient artefacts that now serve as a window through time — and offer a glimpse into some of the trade networks of the ancient world.

The four ships were all dated to various historical times, according to The Smithsonian, one from the Hellenistic era in the first century B.C., one from the Classical era in the fifth century B.C., one from the second or third century A.D., and one that was fairly modern.

While these are all significant finds, the most remarkable discovery was a trove of Roman pottery — which was found on the shipwreck from the second or third century A.D. This hoard included amphorae filled with oil that had been produced in Spain, as well as amphorae from modern-day Tunisia.

“This is the first time we [have found] amphorae from Spain and North Africa, which probably transported oil to Rhodes or the coasts of Asia Minor,” said Xanthis Argyris, who served as the co-leader of the expedition.

According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, amphorae are basically jars or jugs with two vertical handles. In days of antiquity, they were often used for storing and transporting food, olive oil, or wine.

The term amphora itself comes from the Greek word amphiphoreus, which essentially translates to “carried on both sides.” While often associated with the Greeks, these jars were also commonly used by ancient Romans and Phoenicians.

Amphorae have served archaeologists and historians well, in terms of revealing the diets and behaviours of ancient civilizations. One can deduce what they ate and drank, what they deemed worthy enough of rigorous transportation, and what their trade routes may have looked like.

According to Ancient Origins, the fact that these preserved amphorae were found in a Roman shipwreck off Kasos has already told researchers a lot. Situated between Crete and Karpathos, Kasos is the southernmost Greek island — and it’s also located on a historic trade route that connects the Aegean region to the Middle East.

As such, this area has obviously been of great interest to researchers. And over the past three years, the Kasos Maritime Archaeological Project — led by the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities — has been combing the seas around Kasos in the hopes of finding new artefacts. This latest excavation required immense effort on the part of the researchers — and led to huge results.

Unearthing these items has required 100 group dives totalling about 200 hours, led by 23 experts in a variety of fields. Perhaps most stunning is that Argyris and his fellow co-leader Georgios Koutsouflakis were able to cover more than 80 per cent of the area that they’ve deemed of interest.

Meanwhile, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports explained that ancient Kasos was “a crossroads of cultures,” which is apparently still fertile with archaeological finds today. The amphorae found last fall are said to hold more clues about trade in the Mediterranean throughout history.

And these recently found shipwrecks are not the only discoveries that can help paint that picture. In 2019, the same research team that found these Roman-era amphorae found five other shipwrecks, one of which dated to the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s.

With the others spanning from the fourth century B.C. to modern times, there’s no question that there are far more discoveries lurking beneath the ocean’s surface in the area. Fortunately, Argyris and Koutsouflakis have already scheduled additional dives for this year.

“The next research project will include a state-of-the-art seabed detection machine without divers that will give us possible wreck points both on the surface and at the bottom,” said Argyris.

Most fascinating of all is that this endeavour is now more precise than ever before. The team essentially began the project with a mere map of the Mediterranean Sea and potential points of interest for diving teams. After the last few discoveries, that map is now dotted with found shipwrecks.

In that sense, a simple jug tells us much more than what items were once stored inside it. Finding these artefacts and keeping track of their locations allows experts to connect the dots along trade routes — and hopefully figure out how these items ended up where they did.

An Astonishingly Small Stone Carving That Has the Power to Change Art History

A new discovery by researchers at the University of Cincinnati is upending the way we think about the development of Western Civilization. More than one year after discovering the 3,500-year-old tomb of a Bronze age warrior in Greece, an incredible piece of carved stone could rewrite art history.

Known as the Griffin Warrior tomb, the Greek government hailed it as “most important to have been discovered in 65 years.” Located in Pylos, Greece the tomb dates to about 1500 B.C., right around the time that the Mycenaeans overtook the culturally dominant Minoans, who were based on the island of Crete.

The tomb was filled with riches, but perhaps its most spectacular find took longer to emerge.

The Pylos Combat Agate is a miniature stone carved with a deft hand that shows incredible skill. It took conservationists more than a year to clean the limestone-encrusted seal to unearth the incredible imagery of a warrior in battle.

Etched on a piece of stone just over 1.4 inches (3.6 centimetres) long, some details are so small they require a microscope to view.

“What is fascinating is that the representation of the human body is at a level of detail and musculature that one doesn’t find again until the classical period of Greek art 1,000 years later,” shares Jack Davis, the University of Cincinnati’s chair in Greek archaeology and co-project director on the excavation. “It’s a spectacular find.”

Sharon Stocker, who directs the project with Davis, and is a senior research associate in the university’s Department of Classics, concurs.

“Looking at the image for the first time was a very moving experience, and it still is,” says Stocker. “It’s brought some people to tears.”

But just why is this miniature masterpiece such an important find? Scholars have commonly thought that the Mycaneans simply appropriated iconography from Minoan culture, but the Pylos Combat Agate, combined with other artefacts found in the tomb, point to a greater cultural exchange that previously believed.

And due to the rich anatomical details and refined skill of the seal, art historians must re-evaluate their timeline for how Western art developed.

Greek art is broken into a distinct timeline, with famous sculptures like the Nike of Samothrace coming during the 4th-century BC Hellenistic era, the apex Greek artistry.

Instead, the Bronze Age, during which the spoils found inside the Griffin Warrior tomb were produced, is known for much less refined artwork. But now, the seal could completely change how prehistoric art is viewed.

“It seems that the Minoans were producing art of the sort that no one ever imagined they were capable of producing,” shares Davis.

“It shows that their ability and interest in representational art, particularly movement and human anatomy, is beyond what it was imagined to be. Combined with the stylized features, that itself is just extraordinary.”

3,000 yr-old Greek city Tenea found by archaeologists

A group of Trojan prisoners founded the town of Tenea after their devastating defeat by the Greek hero Odysseus and an enormous wooden horse in the Trojan War, according to ancient Greek texts and myths.

More than 3,000 years later, near a small village in southern Greece called Chiliomodi, researchers have uncovered archaeological evidence of the city’s existence for the first time.

The search began back in 1984 when the archaeologist Elena Korka uncovered a sarcophagus in the village, which is located in the Peloponnese region, south of Athens. “After I uncovered the sarcophagus, I knew I had to go back for more,” Korka told the New York Times.

Korka, who directs the Office for Supervision of Antiquaries and Private Archaeological Collections in Greece’s Ministry of Culture, returned with a team to the site in 2013 to begin the current excavations.

In September 2018, following an ancient road, the researchers found a graveyard containing the remains of two men, five women and two children, including one woman buried in the same grave with her child.

The tombs were stocked with bone, bronze and gold jewellery, silver and gold coins, vases and other valuable grave items, indicating the wealth of those buried there. But when the archaeologists continued their search north of the cemetery, they stumbled on an even bigger find: the remains of buildings from the ancient city of Tenea itself.

Inside an area measuring some 672 meters square, the researchers found beams and columns, clay, marble and stone floors and walls, according to a statement released by the Greek cultural ministry announcing the find.

In addition to a number of amphoras (jars) and a collection of more than 200 coins—another indication of the wealth and economic independence of the city—they also uncovered the tombs of two fetuses.

Korka told the Times that the presence of the babies’ tombs helped identify the site as the city itself, as babies were buried in residential areas and not in graveyards.

The ancient Greek historian Pausanias, who lived and wrote in the second century A.D., suggested that the founders of Tenea may have been Trojans who were taken prisoner by Agamemnon, the Mycenaean king.

This occurred in the aftermath of the Trojan War, which—if it actually happened—took place more than 3,000 years ago, in the 13th or 12th century B.C.

Around the 5th century B.C., tales of mythical Greek king Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, noted that he was raised in Tenea.

Until now, archaeologists had uncovered no evidence of the city’s existence outside of historical texts and myths.

The collection of coins and the graves found at the site near Chiliomodi span the period from the early Hellenistic years, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., into the Roman Empire. In 146 B.C., Romans occupied Greece, bringing Tenea under imperial control.

According to the statement from the Greek cultural ministry, the archaeological evidence suggests Tenea grew economically during the reign of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211).

But the city seems to have suffered after the Gothic king Alaric raided the Peloponnese between A.D. 396 and 397, as relatively few artefacts were found dating to the fourth century. During the sixth century A.D., the city may have been abandoned.

Now, more than 1,400 years later, archaeologists are exploring it once again. 

“It is significant that the remnants of the city, the paved roads, the architectural structure, came to light,” Korka told Reuters. “We’ve found evidence of life and death…and all this is just a small part of the history of the place.” 

Amazing mosaic of the ancient Greek god Poseidon found in Turkey

Archaeological excavations in the southern Turkish province of Adana’s Yumurtalık district have unearthed a rare mosaic depicting the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. It is believed to date back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.

The Poseidon mosaic was found in the frigidarium (large cold pool of a Roman bath) part of the ancient bath at the ancient city of Aegae, which is a 1st-degree archaeological field.

The bottom part of the mosaic contains partly ruined writing in Greek: “Greetings to all of you bathing.” 

Adana Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Sabri Tari said the coastal Yumurtalık district was called Aegae in the ancient era.

Tari said the city served as a naval base in the era of the Roman Empire and it was also a famous place for Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. 

“One of three big Asclepius temples of the ancient world is in this city,” he added. 

Tari said the region is rich in historical tissue, and they had previously found a mosaic depicting the god of love, Eros. 

“We found a new mosaic during recent excavations. The Poseidon mosaic, which is a rare one in terms of its beauty, was unearthed in the grounds of the frigidarium,” he said. 

Mosaic nearly 11 square meters 

Adana Museum Deputy Director Nedim Dervişoğlu said they continued to place a big importance on excavations in order to further boost the province’s tourism potential, with such works carried out in a number of different parts of the city. 

“During excavations, we found a mosaic on a field over a space of 11.39 square meters. It is separated into two main panels.

The depiction in the southeastern part of the mosaic has been completely destroyed while the depiction in the north shows Poseidon carrying a trident.

There are dolphins in the right and left of Poseidon. When the excavations are completed around the mosaic, the depiction will be meaningful. We believe it dates back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.,” Dervişoğlu said.

Ancient Greek helmet found buried next to ‘elite warrior’ who died 2,400 years ago

In a rock-cut tomb where a warrior was laid to rest more than 2,000 years ago, an ancient Greek war helmet has been uncovered. The Illyrian helmet still boasts its classic open-faced design, which was first developed in the Peloponnese region of Greece during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.

The tomb was built on the side of a mountain in Zakotarac, on the Pelješac peninsula, in southern Dalmatia, Croatia.

Archaeologists have also uncovered a trove of ancient weapons and unearthed another set of remains of a woman buried with a bronze bracelet around her wrist.

The discovery was made by archaeologists at Zagreb University, in collaboration with Dubrovnik Museums, which believes the grave was used for an elite member of the Greek military.

The Illyrian helmet was first used by ancient Greek Etruscans and Scythians and was later adopted by Illyrians – earning its well-known name.

The type of helmet also became popular in Italy, where it was constructed from ivory. The helmet became obsolete in most parts of Greece in the early 5th century BC – and its use in Illyria ended by the 4th century BC.

Along with finding the helmet used during the Greco-Persian Wars, the team uncovered a number of ‘grave goods’, which were personal items buried with the dead.

Some fifteen bronze and silver fibulae, ten needles or pins, several spiral bronze ornaments and pincers as well as several hundred glass paste and amber beads, once parts of a necklace were all in the tomb.

Dr. Domagoj Perkić, a curator with Dubrovnik Museums, said: ‘To date, more than thirty different vessels have been defined, mainly of Greek provenance, probably from the main Attic and Italic workshops.’

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‘It has to be emphasized that these were the most expensive kinds of pots of the time, which the local population put alongside the deceased as grave goods for their life beyond the grave.’

‘Whether these vessels were bought or plundered during acts of piracy cannot be known, but those who gave them were very certainly aware of their value.’

The warrior, according to researches, was buried wearing the helmet, as it sits where his skull once was – it has deteriorated over the last thousands of years.

The team found the tomb while restoring damaged burial mounds in the area, which they believe was once seen as a sacred place.

The warrior’s mound is more than nine feet deep and six feet wide, and his body was laid to rest in the west-east direction.

The ancient buried city of Akrotiri, Santorini: Greece Pompeii

The ruins of a Bronze Age sophisticated settlement that thrived centuries before being eradicated by a major volcanic eruption are tucked away from the southern tip of Santorini.

The remains of the Minoan town of Akrotiri are remarkably well preserved, like the Roman ruins of Pompei. In the middle of the second millennium BC, the settlement erupted, when Thera sat on a volcano, and its people fled.

The volcanic matter enveloped the entire island of Santorini and the town itself, preserving the buildings and their contents, and visitors can still identify houses and pots. 

The settlement of Akrotiri is one such site. Unlike Pompeii, however, no literary evidence for the destruction of Akrotiri is available to us. As a matter of fact, the city was only discovered by an archaeological excavation conducted in 1967.

Akrotiri was a Bronze Age settlement located on the southwest of the island of Santorini (Thera) in the Greek Cyclades. This settlement is believed to be associated with the Minoan civilization, located on the nearby island of Crete, due to the discovery of the inscriptions in Linear A script, as well as similarities in artifacts and fresco styles.

The earliest evidence for human habitation of Akrotiri can be traced back as early as the 5 th millennium B.C. when it was a small fishing and farming village. By the end of the 3 rd millennium, this community developed and expanded significantly.

One factor for Akrotiri’s growth may be the trade relations it established with other cultures in the Aegean, as evidenced in fragments of foreign pottery at the site. Akrotiri’s strategic position between Cyprus and Minoan Crete also meant that it was situated on the copper trade route, thus allowing it to become an important center for processing copper, as proven by the discovery of molds and crucibles there.    

Akrotiri’s prosperity continued for about another 500 years. Paved streets, an extensive drainage system, the production of high-quality pottery, and further craft specialization all point to the level of sophistication achieved by the settlement. This all came to an end, however, by the middle of the 2 nd century B.C. with the volcanic eruption of Thera. Although the powerful eruption destroyed Akrotiri, it also managed to preserve the city, very much like that done by Vesuvius to Pompeii.

The volcanic ash has preserved much of Akrotiri’s frescoes, which can be found in the interior walls of almost all the houses that have been excavated in Akrotiri. This may be an indication that it was not only the elites who had these works of art.

The frescoes contain a wide range of subjects, including religious processions, flowers, everyday life in Akrotiri, and exotic animals. In addition, the volcanic dust also preserved negatives of disintegrated wooden objects, such as offering tables, beds, and chairs.

This allowed archaeologists to produce plaster casts of these objects by pouring liquid Plaster of Paris into the hollows left behind by the objects. One striking difference between Akrotiri and Pompeii is that there were no uninterred bodies from in the former. In other words, the inhabitants of Akrotiri were perhaps more fortunate than those of Pompeii and were evacuated before the volcanic dust reached the site.

In 2016, Russian cybersecurity expert Eugene Kaspersky gave archaeologists interested in excavating Akrotiri a huge economic boost by funding three major projects at the ancient site. This is how he explained his reason for financial support:

“What I find magical about Akrotiri and the decades-long, ongoing archaeological research is the sense of an unpredictable past. The fact that following a volcano eruption 3,500 years ago, we modern people are trying to comprehend how these people lived back then. And I believe that we have plenty to discover. Do you think that 3,500 years from now anyone will be interested in finding out how we lived?”

The eruption of Thera also had an impact on other civilizations. The nearby Minoan civilization, for instance, faced a crisis due to the volcanic eruption. This is debatable, however, as some have speculated that the crisis was caused by natural disasters occurring prior to the eruption of Thera.

The short term climate change caused by volcanic eruption is also believed to have disrupted the ancient Egyptian civilization. The lack of Egyptian records regarding the eruption may be attributed to the general disorder in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.

Nevertheless, the available records speak of heavy rainstorms occurring in the land, which is an unusual phenomenon. These storms may also be interpreted metaphorically as representing the elements of chaos that needed to be subdued by the Pharaoh.

Some researchers have even claimed that the effects of the volcanic eruption were felt as far away as China. This is based on records detailing the collapse of the Xia Dynasty at the end of the 17th century B.C., and the accompanying meteorological phenomena. Finally, the Greek myth of the Titanomachy in Hesiod’s Theogony may have been inspired by this volcanic eruption, whilst it has also been speculated that Akrotiri was the basis of Plato’s myth of Atlantis.

Thus, Akrotiri and the eruption of Thera serve to show that even in ancient times, a catastrophe in one part of the world can have repercussions on a global scale, something that we are more used to in the better-connected world of today.

2,300-Year-Old Burials Discovered in Southern Greece

According to a Keep Talking Greece report, Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports announced the discovery of eight burials dated to the late fourth through the second century B.C. during rescue excavations on private land in southern Greece.

A recent rescue excavation by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia on a privately owned land plot at the location “Droubes or Paliabela” within the Municipality of Ilida, the Regional Unit of Ilia.

According to the preliminary examination of the offerings, the tombs are dated from the end of the 4th to the 2nd century BC.

Three burial pits, four box-shaped ones and a tiled tomb roof tomb were found.

These tombs are part of the western necropolis of the ancient city of Ilida, from which more than 200 tombs dating to the late classical and Hellenistic period have been excavated to date.

“Particularly important are the findings of burial pit 1, including a bronze urn with its base, which has a floral decoration on the handles and lion heads at the junction of the handles with the rim and a bronze folding mirror,” the Ministry said.

From the first assessment of the offerings, the burial pit dates to the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 3rd century BC.

Apart from a large number of vessels from the Hellenistic period, mainly from the findings of the other tombs, a marble tombstone with a gabled crown stands out”, the Culture Ministry said.