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muriel_volestrangler

(102,396 posts)
Thu Jun 20, 2024, 06:04 AM Jun 2024

Cargo from 'most ancient' shipwreck found off Israel

Cargo from the remains of the oldest shipwreck to be found in the deep sea has been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean, Israeli archaeologists have said.

Hundreds of intact amphorae - ancient storage jars - believed to be 3,300 years old, were discovered 90km (56 miles) off the northern coast of Israel at a depth of 1,800m (5,905ft) on the sea bed.
...
"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.”
...
Only two of the amphorae - believed to have been used by the Canaanite people who lived in an area stretching from modern-day Turkey to Egpyt - were removed using specially designed tools, so as not to disturb the remaining artefacts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cedd0l1wk8qo

To put 3,300 years ago into context, that's before any of the historical stuff in the Bible, and before the Bronze Age Collapse; it is the period of Linear B, and the coast nearest the shipwreck may have been controlled by Egypt, eg Ramesses II (or "Ozimandias" ). If it's 90 km from the northern Israeli coast, then it's about 200 km from Cyprus, the nearest place in other directions. It was quite a voyage.
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