2,300-Year-Old Wine-Carrying ****p Found Off Cyprus
Thursday, January 24, 2008
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Marine archaeologists will begin work in June to
uncover
the sand-buried hull of a 2,300-year-old cargo ****p thought to have been
ferrying wine from the Aegean island of Chios before it sank off Cyprus'
southern coast, researchers said Thursday.
The vessel, dating from the late Classical period (mid-fourth century
B.C.)
is one of only a few such ****ps to have been found so well-preserved, said
University of Cyprus visiting marine archaeologist Stella Demesticha.
"The ****pwreck looks very promising about shedding light on the nautical
and
economic history of the period in the east Mediterranean," Demesticha told
the Associated Press on Thursday.
The wreck rests on the seabed at a depth of 144 feet some 1 1/2 miles off
the island's southern coast.
Demesticha said the wreck was also unique because it lies at a depth that
divers can easily reach, unlike similar discoveries found in deeper
waters.
Unreleased underwater photographs that researchers took of the vessel on
initial surveying dives in November show a jumble of dozens of amphorae -
clay urns used in antiquity to carry liquids and solid foodstuffs - lying
on
the seabed in the shape of the ****p.
Demesticha said researchers believe the ****p's hull to be buried under
tons
of sand. The amphorae closely resemble others found to contain Chios wine,
but may have been used to trans****t other goods in ancient sea trade.
The discovery could also provide more clues into Cyprus' role in maritime
trade during the last phases of the Cypriot city-kingdoms, researchers
said.
Cypriot research divers will start the next surveying phase in early June
said Demesticha, followed by another in October. The project is being
undertaken by the University of Cyprus' Archaeology Research Unit and is
being funded by the Thetis Foundation, a private institution that protects
underwater cultural heritage.
The ****p appears to be a contem****ary of the famed Kyrenia ****p, a 50-foot
merchant vessel that another Greek Cypriot diver accidentally discovered
off
the island's northern coast more than four decades ago.
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