Divers Are About to Pull a 3,000-Year-Old Shipwreck From the Depths [Croatia]

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | June 16, 2023 | Sarah Kuta

[SunkenCiv]

Marine archaeologists began studying the 39-foot-long vessel—nicknamed the "Zambratija boat" because of its location in the Bay of Zambratija—after hearing reports from local fishermen in 2008. Researchers were surprised to learn the vessel dated to between the 12th and 10th centuries B.C.E, which they say makes it the oldest entirely hand-sewn boat in the Mediterranean.

Workers painstakingly constructed the vessel by using flexible fibers to stitch together pieces of wood. While that technique was popular around the world both before and after the introduction of metal components, researchers say the Zambratija boat is unique because it's a rare surviving example of the "ancient naval tradition" of the Istria and Dalmatia regions, says the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in a statement, per Google Translate.

The removal process will begin on July 2. Divers will carefully move pieces of the boat, which they'll gently place into a custom-made support structure.

Once the boat is on land, the team will reconstruct it—and begin studying it up close. In their initial examinations, they'll try to more accurately date the vessel, determine its materials and learn more about the techniques used to shape its wood.

[SunkenCiv]

Some 23 feet of the vessel—which is 39 feet long—are still in very good condition.

CCJ

[SunkenCiv]

• Archaeologica news page, June 16th, 2023 Edition
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  • ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER "COMPLETELY UNIQUE" ROMAN MOSAICS IN LONDON Heritage Daily
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  • WOLF SKULL DEPOSITED IN GRAVE TO PROTECT AGAINST DECEASED'S SPIRIT Heritage Daily
  • Ornate Roman mausoleum uncovered beneath London construction site CNN
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  • Oldest Signs of Human Ancestors' Trek to Australia Found in Laotian Cave Science Alert
  • The Ancient Romans Used These Tweezers to Remove Body Hair Smithsonian Magazine
  • Oldest ever Homo sapiens footprint is found, pushing the record back by 30,000 years Phys

[GingisK]

That is great! I like those finds.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

You post the best stuff!!!

Thank you!!!!

[Track9]

I hope they find Hildabeast’s emails.

[Gen.Blather]

Out of curiosity, at what point does a ship become a sacred grave you can’t disturb ever?

[SunkenCiv]

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha sort:

• Anger as pre-historic stones destroyed for French DIY store [06/16/2023]
• Art sleuths in Rome create a 3D reconstruction of Renaissance great Raphael's face [08/06/2020]
• A Construction Crew Working at the Uffizi in Florence Accidentally Uncovered Two Long-Lost Renaissance-Era Frescoes [04/29/2021]
• Early human ancestor Lucy 'died falling out of a tree' [08/29/2016]
• 86,000-Year-Old Human Remains Uncovered, Challenging Dominant Migration Hypothesis [06/14/202]
• 'Extremely rare' 3,000-year-old sword discovered in Germany is so well preserved it SHINES, archaeologists say [06/16/2023]
• Forensic evidence suggests Paleo-Americans hunted mastodons, mammoths and other megafauna in eastern North America 13,000 years ago [06/14/2023]
• Lucy the ancient human walked fully upright, and she was ripped [06/15/2023]
• Medici family's famous hunting grounds may have killed them, report suggests [06/16/2023]
• Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia and Levant [06/12/2023]
• Quit or be fired: Tallahassee principal out amid parent complaints over renaissance statue lesson [03/27/2023]
• Scientists are growing animals in artificial wombs. Humans might be next. [06/12/2023]
• 7 of History's Strangest Mass Hysteria Events [06/12/2023]
• The Sound of Ancient Languages. You Haven't Seen Anything Like This Before! [parts 1 & 2] [06/13/2023]
• Three historical shipwrecks uncovered in the Mediterranean [06/12/2023]
• True Size of a Mongol Army - Experience the Endless Horde! DOCUMENTARY [06/13/2023]
• Turkish man knocked down basement wall to find 2,000-year-old underground city -- after chasing his chickens through a hole [06/15/2023]
• Two Huge Landmarks Have Ancient Secret Laying Beneath Them [06/14/2023]
• Vast cemetery of Bronze Age burial mounds unearthed near Stonehenge [06/18/2023]

[SunkenCiv]

If the grieving families show up.

[SunkenCiv]

She'll be by to dust these artifacts with a soft cloth.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Flag_This]

"In many cases, these underwater sites also serve as the final resting places of passengers and crew members who perished in the wreck, so conservationists often leave the vessels in place out of respect."

Yeah, no...I think it really goes back to cost. They excavate burial sites all the time. They have armies of skeletons in storage facilities.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops.

[Track9]

All the ‘cleaning’ they do, she should have been maid.

[GingisK]

Only until their immediate family passes on. Dead people don’t care.

[SunkenCiv]

[Chickensoup]

Never evidently.

[Flag_This]

It took me a second...

[GrumpyOldGuy]

B.C. Is fine, I detest the modern political B.C.E. Everyone knew what we were talking about before.

[Cold Heart]

Determined by climate change, political climate that is.

[SunkenCiv]

Nah, that kind of thing is beneath her, as is running a convenience store.