Archaeologists discovered 40 ancient shipwrecks at the bottom of the Black Sea.
A group of maritime archeologists studying sea
levels in the Black Sea have uncovered over 40 shipwrecks this year as a
“complete bonus.”
The Black Sea Maritime Archeology Project has been trawling the seabed to understand how quickly the water level rose after the last Ice Age, 20,000 years ago. But their surveys ended up uncovering dozens of previously unknown wrecks. Many of the discoveries are in excellent condition, thanks to low oxygen levels below 150 meters, which slows decay.
“The wrecks are a complete bonus, but a
fascinating discovery, found during the course of our extensive
geophysical surveys,” said Jon Adams, a University of Southampton
maritime archaeologist and principal investigator of the project, in a statement.
Some of the ships discovered are thousands of
years old, dating to the Byzantine empire, while others are from the
Ottoman period.
Hulls, masts, tillers, and rudders are all
clearly discernible. “Certainly no one has achieved models of this
completeness on shipwrecks at these depths,” said Adams.
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