Pristine wrecks revealed in Evian Straits

Athens News ^ | Friday, September 14, 2012 | John Leonard

[SunkenCiv]

During the summer the sites of six previously undocumented ancient shipwrecks were located by the Southern Euboean Gulf Survey (SEGS)... nautical archaeologist George Koutsouflakis of the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities (EUA)... noted that the collaborative SEGS project was launched in 2006... has discovered and recorded 24 ancient shipwrecks... This year's SEGS team... located four ancient wrecks... Makronissos proved to be a particularly rich hunting ground... three of the wreck sites discovered there appear extraordinarily well preserved and may contain the actual remains of the wooden ships... mounded, concreted cargoes of transport amphorae, the distinctive ceramic containers usually used for the bulk shipment of foodstuffs, especially wine and olive oil... a large Roman-era ship of the mid-4th c AD (Wreck 16) lying off the northwest side of Makronissos and two other Hellenistic merchantmen of late 3rd c to early 2nd c BC date that sank off the island's east coast. The Roman ship appears to have been a heavily laden wine carrier... most of the ship's amphorae hail from North Africa (specifically Tunisia or Libya), with a small percentage from Sicily... a large, unusually complete cargo of mid-Hellenistic amphorae originating in Rhodes... the late 2nd to 1st c BC Makronissos wreck (Wreck 23)... appears to be... completely intact... holds the greatest potential for containing well-preserved wooden remains of the ship itself... Italian and typical Hellenistic Rhodian amphorae, the latter exhibiting legible handle stamps... a fourth wreck site... near Makronissos, of 1st c BC-1st c AD date, containing about 20 complete amphorae... North of Thorikos, a fifth wreck also of Roman date (1st-2nd c AD) was discovered at shallow depths (7-15m). Prior to meeting its fate, this ship had been transporting a load of terracotta building supplies consisting of typical Roman roof tiles and thin, rectangular or square constructional tiles.

[SunkenCiv]

Myrto Michali numbering and photographing amphorae on the late 2nd-1st c BC site near Makronissos (Wreck 23)

Archaeologist Eugenia Loizou wetting down an Lamboglia-type amphora

Archaeologist Myrto Michali checking the clay stopper of an intact amphora from the late 2nd-1st c BC ship near Makronissos

Archaeologists Koutsouflakis and Loizou clean and measure a late Hellenistic lagynos pitcher

Archaeologists Koutsouflakis, Michali and Loizou clean the interior of an intact amphora

Team and sponsors of the 2012 Southern Euboean Gulf Survey

[SunkenCiv]

Myrto Michali numbering and photographing amphorae on the late 2nd-1st c BC site near Makronissos (Wreck 23)

Archaeologist Eugenia Loizou wetting down an Lamboglia-type amphora

Archaeologist Myrto Michali checking the clay stopper of an intact amphora from the late 2nd-1st c BC ship near Makronissos

Archaeologists Koutsouflakis and Loizou clean and measure a late Hellenistic lagynos pitcher

Archaeologists Koutsouflakis, Michali and Loizou clean the interior of an intact amphora

Team and sponsors of the 2012 Southern Euboean Gulf Survey

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
I'm not sure whether the pictures load, because I have a slow dial-up connection, so I posted them two ways. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[RitchieAprile]

guess roman home depot had to cancel that special on roof tile.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Rome Depot... nice how that rolls out...

[1010RD]

This is why Greece fell into bankruptcy. Can you imagine a job where you get to scuba in the Med for sunken treasure at your leisure? Are they hiring?

[count-your-change]

The 27th. chapter of Acts gives one the best accounts of a merchant grain ship encountering a storm and running aground. and it's well known passenger, Paul.

[Altariel]

For the last time, I wasn’t “at the wheel” of any of the vessels!

No one took pictures!

You can’t prove anything!

[null and void]

Darks? Izat you?

[Darksheare]

Wasn’t me either!
[You get blamed for odd things too?]

[null and void]

Don’t just stand there, invite Altariel over to the Undead Thread...

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, this long-delayed dive is why Greece is bankrupt, sure. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

I wasn’t suspicious before, but now...

[SunkenCiv]

The giant grain-haulers of Roman times were not Rome’s only large ships — the ancestors of the Dravidians wrote poetry referencing the wonderful ships of the westerners, arriving in India to trade — but the grain-haulers were often the method of choice for travellers coming home from the east, because they had roomy decks and didn’t pitch as much. Lucian included info about one of the grain haulers which had to put in at the Piraeus of Athens, a port which had once serviced smaller but still large grain haulers in the heyday of Greece.

Works of Lucian, Vol. IV: The Ship: Or, The Wishes
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/wl4/wl407.htm

[count-your-change]

Thank you. The shipping business was both hazardous and profitable and anyone who has been out on the sea can appreciate the courage of those ancient sailors.

[Hegemony Cricket]

“Pristine Wrecks” - great name for a garage band...

[Darksheare]

We both deny being the wheelman in the pilothouse the night Sidebar’s boat went down.