Mediterranean | Wreck of ship more than 3,000 years old discovered

(Jerusalem) The wreck of a ship more than 3,000 years old with its cargo was discovered off the northern coast of Israel, the country’s antiquities authority announced Thursday.

The wreck was discovered in the Mediterranean, at a depth of more than 1,500 meters, by the energy company Energean, registered in London, which operates off the coast of Israel.

A study by the company revealed that the ship’s cargo consisted of hundreds of amphorae used for storing products like wine and olive oil during the Bronze Age.

“The ship appears to have sunk in distress, either due to a storm or a pirate attack, a phenomenon well known in the late Bronze Age,” said Jacob Sharvit, the head of the maritime unit of the antiquities authority, in a press release.

The wreck was discovered last year 90 kilometers off the coast of northern Israel and authorities estimated that it dates back to the 14^e or 13^e century BC.

More than three millennia old, the wreck dates from a time when maritime trade was beginning to prosper.

The Energean team found a significant number of jugs while surveying the sea floor, said Karnit Bahartan, the company’s environmental manager.

“When we sent them [à l’autorité des antiquités] the images, it turned out to be a sensational discovery, far beyond what we could have imagined,” he said.

Mr Sharvit said the location of the discovery, offshore, showed that ancient sailors were able to navigate the sea without having the coast in sight, probably with the help of the position of the stars and the sun.

“This is a historic discovery of global proportions,” he said.

Some of the discovered objects will soon be presented to the public, the authority said.