The Oldest Shipwreck In The World Has Recently Been Discovered By Chance

When a team of scientists set out on a mission at the depths of the Black Sea, they never expected to stumble upon something so remarkable, that would shed light on a forgotten part of history.

Team Of Scientists

The Black Sea remains to this day an interesting location for scientists to explore, and interestingly it was aboard a research ship that something outstanding was discovered. Traveling across the sea, a team of scientists loosely monitored a broadcasting surveillance screen to search the depths of the deep blue and with one sharp noise, their lives were about to change forever.

Amazing Discovery

The scientist was hoping to find something unusual underwater, but never believed for a second that a rare uncovered part of history would come his way, that would later be described as one of the world’s most extraordinary finds. The mindblowing discovery would reveal to the world details about a forgotten time and unearth vital information that had been kept a secret for decades.

Forgotten Lands

The team was led by a professor at the University of Southampton in England. An archaeology expert, Jon Adams set up a team to head out to the Black Sea to gather information for a survey on submerged landscapes. Unknown to most, there are places all over the world that have been forgotten as water covers the areas.

Black Sea

Adams’ team had been working hard on this project since 2015, and they were passionate about this particular endeavour. As they delved into the depths of the water of the Black Sea, they used their equipment to explore 6,000 feet from the surface, not knowing what they would find.

Best Type Of Equipment

The research itself made history, as no other experiments under the water had reached these depths since the Ice Age. Adams needed the absolute best equipment to complete his project, and to put it into perspective exactly how deep they were traveling, humans are advised to travel no deeper than 130 feet into the ocean.

Along The Ocean Floor

The equipment they used was extremely advanced, and the team’s vessel was hooked up with the best of the best underwater technology. The team operated with two vessels, one remaining off-shore. There they operated two Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) which rode along the ocean floor and sent data about its surroundings back to the other vessel. It was all very exciting.

Specialist Equipment

The two ROV’s were quite different. One was laden with ultra-high-definition cameras, bright lights to enable clarity on the sea bed, and a laser scanner that could scan and send perfectly accurate data back to the main ship. It was this data that found this centuries old secret.

Many Miles

Over the last three years, the team of scientists searched high and low across the floor of the Black Sea exploring over 800 miles. During this time, at specific locations, they had collected around 330 feet of sediment core samples, finding much more than they had originally thought they would.

Amazing Finds

Astonishingly, as they explored the seabed, they found around 60 different shipwreck sites, each dating back to an entirely different time period and with little information about them. The sites showed ships from the Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine periods. One of the notable and awe inspiring things about the sea, is that because the water has little oxygen, treasures can be beautifully preserved and this was definitely the case here.

Final Season

After months out in the Black Sea they wondered whether to give up or if they would find any marvels, and that is exactly what they did find. This month would be their most successful yet. In the course of the last two weeks, they found 20 additional shipwrecks, with incredibly interesting features.

Exciting Find

The most recent ships they detected were more preserved than they could have ever imagined and not only that, but several even had the ship and crew equipment still in tact on the deck. It was here, that their dreams had come true, they had successfully identified lost pieces of history. The shipwreck caused such excitement within the team, they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

Lost Part Of History

The discoveries went on to show much more with structural features and fittings still remaining intact. Most of these things had only ever been imagined in drawings, they were figments of imagination, no one could believe that this was real. As amazing as all of this was, their find was about to get much more exciting, what they were about to see would help the world to understand a part of history that had been lost.. that is until now.

The Biggest Find

As they scoured and searched the sea bed Adams’ team spotted a 75-foot-long ship. They could only make out half, as the rest of it was buried deep. Similar to the other wrecks, this ship had also luckily been preserved and a marine archaeologist told us exactly why. this enabled the scientists to be able to really study it.

One Big Pickle Jar

The shipwreck boasted its impressive rowing benches and mast, that still lay in practically perfect condition, marine archaeologist Brendan Foley explained to the team, “The usual critters that eat wood and other organics elsewhere… cannot live in these anoxic waters, so shipwrecks… are preserved as if they were in a… big pickle jar.” Cool!

Comparing The Discovery

As the impressive equipment continued to do its amazing work, going around the shipwreck taking pictures and videos for research, the team believed it was an oar-and-sail-powered Greek ship. Their opinion was based on the carving of a Greek trading vessel found on the Siren Vase, a famous vase that was found and then transferred to a British museum in London.

Unlikely Connection

The vase is a renowned discovery from the Greek era. It shows in pictures the words of poet Homer in his “The Odyssey” poem dating back to around 480 B.C. The scientists grew ever more curious as how the two were connected. They were determined to work it out.

It Was A Big Deal

Even if they wanted to, the shipwreck is impossible to move without a thorough investigation to ensure it stays preserved and protected. So the team were only able to take a small sample piece using the ROV, in order to be used for radiocarbon dating. The test results were mindblowing to say the least.

Thousands Of Years Old

This test proved to the team just what an important discovery this was, and how this day would stay with them forever. The carbon dating test revealed the ship dated all the way back to 400 B.C, meaning that the ship had been sat there, undiscovered, on the bottom of the Black Sea, for a truly astounding 2,400 years! Even more mind boggling, was how it had been preserved for so long. They could not believe what they had discovered.

Making History

As soon as they reported it, the team were informed that they had just stumbled across the oldest intact shipwreck that had ever been discovered to date. Speaking of the wonderous find, Adams said, “A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over two kilometres of water, is something I would never have believed possible.”

Trading Across The Ocean

Up to this date, the only discovery pre dating the Greek vessel, were 3000-year-old fragments of sunken ships. The revelation would give insight into how the Greeks traded all those years ago. The fact that this ship was in tact was truly magnificent and more of a result than anyone could have ever dreamt of, truly they were elated as one can imagine they would be.

Severe Storm

As a result of the perfect preservation, scientists would now be able to understand much more about how far the Greek trading ships were operating off the coast. Another question that arose, was how exactly the ship had sunk and would they be able to answer this? After extensive research, they came to the conclusion that a harsh storm was the most likely answer to the reason for the ship sinking.

Who Was Aboard The Ship?

As the archaeologists continued to delve into the history of the ship, they understood they would have been a crew of around 15 to 25 men, and for a ship that size, they wouldn’t have been able to bail the water overboard quick enough. With the outstanding technology we now have available in the world, the team put a report together of what they found.

How Did They Do It?

Foley, a scientist explained how it was possible for them to make such a huge discovery, “The new systems reduce the costs of deep ocean survey and search, and increase the area that can be investigated in a given time. Now it’s becoming possible to map an entire basin (think: the whole Black Sea) and discover every shipwreck on the seafloor.”

Honoring The Ship

Even though the discovery could find its place easily in a museum, Adams team decided they wanted to honour the ship by leaving it exactly where they had found it. Part of moving the ship would mean taking it apart thus destroying its preservation. With that in mind, the team never went on to disclose any information regarding the coordinates of the spectacular encounter.