2,700-Year-Old Phoenician Shipwreck Discovered

[Aurelia]

On Monday, the government of Malta announced that an international team of researchers has discovered the wreck of a 2,700-year-old Phoenician trading ship and its cargo off the island country’s coastline. The ancient shipwreck may be the oldest ever found in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

The discovery was made several months ago one mile off the coast of Gozo Island, the second-largest island in the Maltese archipelago. Nearly 400 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, researchers located a 50-foot-long sunken ship and its cargo strewn over a 700-square-foot area. The remains included 20 lava grinding stones weighing nearly 80 pounds each and 50 amphorae—large ceramic jugs with two handles and narrow necks used to hold wine. Since the Mediterranean’s sandy seabed cushioned the impact of the wreck, the relics were well preserved and could be dated to 700 B.C., which could make the discovery the oldest shipwreck in the Mediterranean.

 

The ancient Phoenician ship was typical of the trading vessels that stopped in Malta to sell cargo, and since researchers discovered seven different types of amphorae in the wreck, they surmised that the ship had made numerous ports of call. It is believed that the vessel was sailing between Sicily and Malta when it met its watery demise.

 

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