Posted on 04/30/2022 9:09:08 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
An ancient trading ship carrying wine that lay undiscovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea for more than 2,000 years has been damaged and looted since being discovered by archaeologists, French authorities said Wednesday.
The ship, named Fort Royal 1, is thought to have sunk off the coast of Cannes on the French Riviera during the second century BC.
Divers tasked with the first official explorations of the wreck, which was discovered in 2017, found that some of the clay containers used to transport wine at the time had been removed by divers who had broken into the vessel.
"Well-conserved wrecks from this period are particularly rare," said a joint statement from the department of marine archaeology in the French culture ministry and local police. "That's why the opportunity to study the wooden body and the cargo is absolutely exceptional."
"The losses of scientific and historical information are probably significant" as a result of the damage, it added, saying the thefts had been carried out recently and were ongoing.
The boat was discovered in 2017 by renowned French marine archaeologists Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray, who spent decades scouring the floor of the Mediterranean. Jean-Pierre Joncheray died in 2020 aged 79.
The area around the wreck "is now off-limits for moorings or sailing and an investigation has been opened by maritime police in Marseille," the statement said.
Last month, the United States returned a trove of looted treasure from a 1746 shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean to France. The illegally obtained artifacts included a skull from the Parisian catacombs, golden ingots and an ancient Roman coin.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
To borrow from the bard, ships have sunk and worms have eaten them...
Maybe it depends on the depth. Also, they probably originated in one place (origin is unknown), and were spread by wood vessels.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Teredo_navalis/
Or something similar.
VERY, VERY NICE WORK!
I sort of believe that too. I’ve been following archeology for decades but I don’t understand why well paid archeologists should have sole access to this stuff and then they put it in museum basements. We watched a documentary on sites in Guatemala which mainly focused on sites that had been raided by the locals. Well the locals were probably descended from the people who build those temples and so I say, more power to them. Why should (relatively) rich white people, mostly guys, fly in and control the site.
I’ll pass on the Roman fish sauce, thank you.
Nay, nay...tis most tasty!
I thought it would be gross but its surprising good...as a condiment used sparingly. Lots o’ umami!
https://www.amazon.com/Flor-Garum-Artisan-Sauce-fl-oz/dp/B096WXQK2G
Surely then the name of the ship wasn’t Fort Royal 1? Even the French equivalent would be a stretch.
There’s the additional aspect to their design for loading — similar to barrels, a great solution for transport.
I never thought about the nesting characteristics of that shape as a way to maximize transportation efficiency.
= = =
Think aluminum beer cans, light and compact.
Yeah, but beer cans are by modern smart people. These amphora were 2,000 years ago!
Yeah, but beer cans are by modern smart people. These amphora were 2,000 years ago!
= = =
Sometimes I argue that they were smarter back then; people are dumber now.
The internet and phones will do that to you!
It’s named after the modern French landmark onshore, of course. The practice of naming ships is ancient though, we’re just remarkably unlikely to find a ship with its original name somehow carved into it.
Exactly. Good quantity but easy to move without cranes and such. And this is irrespective to how they were stowed for transport.
Yeah, it’s better that the thieves have them, and they alone.
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