"Groundbreaking discovery" 3300-year-old ship found far off the coast of Israel
The robot of a natural gas extraction company examines the sea bed - and comes across an unusual accumulation. Israel's Antiquities Authority also derives insights from the "groundbreaking discovery".
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- The Israel Antiquities Authority is calling it a "groundbreaking discovery": a ship full of storage jars around 3300 years old has been discovered far off the coast of Israel.
- Two of the jars have now been recovered. According to the authorities, they date back to the late Bronze Age and belonged to the Canaanites.
- So far, only two shipwrecks with cargo have been discovered from the late Bronze Age.
- According to the authority, the discovery is also proof that sailors at the time crossed the sea without being able to see the coast.
A 3300-year-old ship has been discovered during natural gas drilling off the coast of northern Israel, together with hundreds of intact ancient amphorae. The storage vessels are around 3300 to 3400 years old, as the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday. It spoke of a "groundbreaking discovery".
Two of the jars were recently recovered. According to the authority, they date back to the late Bronze Age and belonged to the Canaanites. They lived before the Israelites in the area that corresponds to modern-day Israel and Lebanon as well as parts of Jordan and Syria.
Oil, wine and fruit on board
It is one of the oldest known examples of a ship that traveled far from the coast, the report continues.
The jars were used to store oil, wine and fruit, among other things. According to Jacob Sharvit, Director of the Department of Maritime Archaeology, the large quantity of amphorae on board a single ship is evidence of the important trade relations with the ancient Near Eastern countries on the Mediterranean coast.
90 kilometers from the coast
Never before has a ship from this period been found in the deep sea, according to a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority. It had sunk around 90 kilometers from the shore - possibly due to a storm or a pirate attack.
Only two shipwrecks with cargo from the late Bronze Age have been discovered so far. Both are reportedly located off the Turkish coast - but close to the shore.
According to the authority, the discovery is also proof that sailors at the time crossed the sea without being able to see the coast. "This find reveals to us like never before the navigational skills of the ancient seafarers," said Sharvit. He estimates that they used the sun and other stars to navigate.
The British-Greek company Energean carried out a standard investigation of the seabed using a diving robot around a year ago and discovered an accumulation of jars at a depth of 1.8 kilometers, according to the Antiquities Authority. Energean extracts gas from the Karish field off the coast of Israel, among other places.
Buried under mud
Employees of the company and the Antiquities Authority finally examined the site using a ship equipped for deep-sea work and determined that it must have been the cargo of a sunken ship around 12 to 14 meters long. Many of the artifacts and possibly also wooden beams from the shipwreck were covered by the muddy bottom.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the two jars were recovered around two weeks ago after months of planning and the development of special equipment. According to the Antiquities Authority, the amphorae are to be put on display this summer. The authority did not say whether the rest of the cargo and possible remains of the ship will also be recovered. According to Haaretz, the ship's beams, which were above the ground, have disappeared.