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After three field seasons, the Black Sea Maritime Archaeological Project is drawing to a close, but the things the team has discovered on the sea floor will keep researchers busy for a generation. Over the course of the expedition, researchers found 60 incredibly well-preserved ships from the medieval, Roman, Byzantine and ancient Greek eras, which are rewriting what historians know about ancient trade and shipbuilding reports Damien Sharkov at Newsweek.
The project, begun in 2015, wasn't originally about finding ancient ships. According to a press release, the team set out to use remote operated vehicles laser scanners to map the floor of the Black Sea off Bulgaria to learn more about the changing environment of the region and fluctuations in sea level since the last glacier cycle. But they couldn't help but locate ships too. Last year, they found 44 ancient vessels during their survey representing 2,500 years of history. "The wrecks are a complete bonus, but a fascinating discovery, found during the course of our extensive geophysical surveys," Jon Adams, principle investigator and director of the University of Southampton's Centre for Maritime Archaeology, said at the time.
During the latest field season, which just ended, the expedition discovered another batch of ancient ships. "Black Sea MAP now draws towards the end of its third season, acquiring more than 1300km of survey so far, recovering another 100m of sediment core samples and discovering over 20 new wreck sites, some dating to the Byzantine, Roman and Hellenistic periods," Adams tells Aristos Georgiou at The International Business Times. "This assemblage must comprise one of the finest underwater museums of ships and seafaring in the world."
St. Julien Perlmutter is all over this. The finds are even more exciting than the nautical knowledge to be gained, because many of the ships' cargos are intact.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:02PM (3 children)
You know the Mediterranean is where the Greeks live, right? So if they wanted to go the Americas, the Black Sea is the wrong way. GP is correct in essence -- sure, your pedantry is justified in that one could sail from Greece to the Black Sea to America, but it would make no bloody sense to.
What doesn't make sense is GP's assumption that the only way a shipwreck can support such a theory is by being located along a relevant shipping route, but that's no more retarded than OP's neglecting to mention how these discoveries do support it; was cargo resembling American artifacts found? Were these ships found to be suitable for crossing the Atlantic, or with different construction techniques than previously known which would scale better for transatlantic vessels? So far the whole thread looks like a complete waste of space. (Yes, including both your pedantry and my wasting time to call you on it.)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @05:19PM (2 children)
The only one suggesting anything about the Greeks traveling to the Americas through the Black Sea is the retarded AC who posted the equally retarded "You do know that you can't get to north america via the black sea right?".
If you had read the article, you'd know that these preserved ships show that the Ancient Greeks had ship technology far beyond what it was thought that they had.
It was initially thought that their ships would only have been good enough for local trade within the nearby Mediterranean region. But these preserved specimens suggest that their ships were far more advanced, and could likely have handled trans-oceanic voyages.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 26 2017, @07:02PM
YMBNH
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @07:58AM
The articles didn't say anything supporting your claims e.g. that the articles said that the "Ancient Greeks had ship technology far beyond what it was thought that they had" and "these preserved specimens suggest that their ships were far more advanced, and could likely have handled trans-oceanic voyages."
They just mentioned well preserved stuff with masts and rudders. And we already knew the Ancient Greeks had ships with masts and rudders.