Finding a Ship From 400 B.C.

A Greek sailing vessel as depicted on an ancient vase.

Last week I wrote about the marooned Alexander Selkirk and the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe. This week I read an article about what may be the oldest intact shipwreck which was found in the depths of the Black Sea.

It was found more than a mile down, and in water that deep there is little oxygen and that slows down decomposition, so it is well preserved.

It was the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project that found the ship which as been confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind. It has been radiocarbon-dated to roughly 400 B.C. That dating means that this trading vessel was sailing in the days of Plato and Sophocles. The city-states of ancient Greece had colonies all around the Black Sea.

It was discovered along with dozens of other shipwrecks during an 800-square-mile survey of the seabed.

Pottery depicting Odysseus tied to the mast
so that he is not tempted by the siren Parthenope

Ships of the same design have been found on ancient pottery, such as the Siren Vase, which is dated several decades earlier than the ship.

The same group has discovered more than 60 sunken ships in the Black Sea from different eras.