Free Republic

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,500-year-old shipwreck near the ancient Greek city of Kydonies, now known as Ayvalık, on Turkey’s Aegean coast. This remarkable find, part of the “Turkish Sunken-Ships Project: Blue Heritage,” sheds new light on ancient maritime trade and the region’s historical significance. Researchers from Dokuz Eylül University’s Underwater Research Center (SUDEMER) identified the shipwreck located 2.5 miles offshore at a depth of 43 meters. Led by Associate Professors Harun Özdaş and Nilhan Kızıldağ, the team worked with the approval of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Underwater robotic systems were crucial in locating and studying the site. Largest...

Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds; more recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops; dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication. Recent archaeological finds of ancient preserved apple seeds across Europe and West Asia combined with historical, paleontological, and recently published genetic data are presenting a fascinating new narrative for one of our most familiar fruits. In this study, Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History traces the history of the apple from its wild origins, noting that...