The ancient ship and its cargo is estimated to be from the 13th century BCE, making it one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered.
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The Canaanite amphorae from the 3,300-year-old shipwreck. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.
The 3,300-year-old shipwreck was found 90 km (56 miles) from Israel’s shore at a depth of 1.8 km (1.1 miles) on the Mediterranean Sea floor.
“The ship seems to have sunk in crisis, either due to a storm or to an attempted piracy attack,” said Dr. Jacob Sharvit, head of the marine unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“This is both the first and the oldest ship found in the Eastern Mediterranean deep sea, 90 km from the nearest shore.”
“This is a world-class history-changing discovery: this find reveals to us as never before the ancient mariners’ navigational skills — capable of traversing the Mediterranean Sea without a line of sight to any coast. From this geographical point, only the horizon is visible all around.”
“To navigate they probably used the celestial bodies, by taking sightings and angles of the Sun and star positions.”
The discovery was made during an environmental survey of the seabed by a team from London-based natural gas production company Energean.
“As part of our ongoing activity to discover and extract natural gas from the deep sea, we conduct surveys that check different parameters, using an advanced submersible robot to scour the seafloor,” said Dr. Karnit Bahartan, head of the environmental staff at Energean.
“About a year ago, during a survey, we saw the unusual sight of what seemed to be a large pile of jugs heaped on the seafloor.”
“We are in ongoing contact with the Israel Antiquities Authority, and when we sent them the images it turned out to be a sensational discovery, far beyond what we could imagine.”
The 3,300-year-old shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea floor. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.
“The robot’s survey and mapping of the site clarified this to be a sunken ship ca. 12-14 m (39-46 feet) long that was transporting hundreds of Late Bronze Age Canaanite storage vessels, of which only some are visible above the ocean floor,” Dr. Sharvit said.
“The muddy bottom conceals a second layer of vessels, and it seems that wooden beams of the ship are also buried within the mud.”
“The vessel type identified in the cargo was designed as the most efficient means of transporting relatively cheap and mass-produced products such as oil, wine and other agricultural products such as fruit.”
“Finding such a great quantity of amphorae on board one single ship is testimony to significant commercial ties between their country of origin and the ancient Near Eastern lands on the Mediterranean coast.”
“This is a truly sensational find. Only two other shipwrecks with cargo are known from the Late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean Sea — the boat from Cape Gelidonya and the Uluburun boat; both found off the Turkish coast.”
“Yet both of those shipwrecks were found relatively near the shore, and were accessible using normal diving equipment.”
“Based on these two finds, the academic assumption until now was that trade in that time was executed by safely flitting from port to port, hugging the coastline within eye contact.”
“The discovery of this boat now changes our entire understanding of ancient mariner abilities: it is the very first to be found at such a great distance with no line of sight to any landmass.”
“There is tremendous potential here for research: the ship is preserved at such a great depth that time has frozen since the moment of disaster — its body and contexts have not been disturbed by human hand (divers, fishermen, etc.); nor affected by waves and currents which do impact shipwrecks in shallower waters.”
“The important significance of these finds prompted a decision to exhibit these Canaanite vessels extracted from the seafloor, and to thus tell the public the story of this boat, in the framework of opening the Archaeological Campus for ‘sample taste’ tours this summer,” said Dr. Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“These visits will afford people a glimpse of this unique edifice, its mosaics and laboratories, even before the official opening of our expansive visitor center, currently scheduled two years from today.”
“I earnestly thank Energean for their alertness in identifying this ancient cargo, and for dedicating the resources which have already enabled initial understandings gleaned from this rare shipwreck.”
