# Ancient ship wreck found **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153 "2024-06-21T12:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/1 "2024-06-21T12:34:53Z")
Off the coast of Israel, a ship from approximately the time of king Tut was recently discovered during a survey by Energean, looking to develop natural gas fields. Ancient Shipwreck Preserves a Deep Bronze Age Time Capsule. I think this is a gift link. > **[Ancient Shipwreck Preserves a Deep Bronze Age Time Capsule](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/20/science/shipwreck-bronze-age-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1U0.ZabG.q7_AK5OZa8dn)** > > About a mile beneath the sea, the ship suggests that trade in the eastern Mediterranean Sea traveled much farther from the safety of land. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/2 "2024-06-21T17:56:38Z")
Fascinating. Thanks for the link! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/3 "2024-06-21T18:24:20Z")
Here’s [another story about it, from CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/21/science/shipwreck-mediterranean-sea-3300-intl-scli-scn/index.html). This one headlines the historical implications of where it was found. > The vessel is estimated to be from the 13th or 14th century BCE, the authority said in a statement. It was discovered 90 kilometers (around 56 miles) from the shore, in waters 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) deep, with hundreds of intact jars still on board, the statement added. > > [snip] > > Previous knowledge of how ships traded suggested that voyages were made from port to port, rather than across open expanses of sea, with those on board still able to see the shore. > > “The ship that has just been discovered changes the understanding of sailing in the ancient world,” Sharvit said. > > “This is a world-class sensation: The discovery shows the impressive navigational abilities of the ancients – those that made it possible to cross the Mediterranean Sea without any eye contact with the shore – since from this distance you can only see the horizon line,” he added. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/4 "2024-06-21T18:29:07Z")
> [@CNN](#): > > The discovery shows the impressive navigational abilities of the ancients – those that made it possible to cross the Mediterranean Sea without any eye contact with the shore – since from this distance you can only see the horizon line,” he added. Does it really show that they were able to navigate in the open sea? It seems like there could be many other reasons for the ship to end up there, such as becoming unmoored and floating away to the open sea. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/5 "2024-06-21T20:01:33Z")
That was my exact thought when I read the article ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/6 "2024-06-21T20:05:09Z")
Small craft get blown out of sight of shore all the time. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/7 "2024-06-21T20:08:55Z")
The Mediterranean is famous for rapidly forming storms and sudden powerful winds. I don’t thing navigation was the main thing keeping ships close to the shore there. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/8 "2024-06-21T20:30:28Z")
I also wondered if the reason we think they stayed near the coast is because those are the waters that are easy to explore, so that’s where we found ship wrecks. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/9 "2024-06-21T22:02:05Z")
I feel like archaeology and more generally natural history is full of people jumping to generalizations based on one incomplete data point (though I can’t cite an example immediately, I admit). ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/10 "2024-06-21T22:05:43Z")
Fantastic, very exciting. But… jugs? The article also calls them jars, but several times, jugs!? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/11 "2024-06-21T22:06:35Z")
It means the jars have handles. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/12 "2024-06-21T22:11:48Z")
Amphora > **[Amphora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphora)** > > An amphora (/ˈæmfərə/; Ancient Greek: ἀμφορεύς, romanized: amphoreús; English pl. amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land or sea. The size and shape have been determined from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various produc ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/13 "2024-06-21T22:20:53Z")
Along with the possibility that finding this wreck where it lay might demonstrate the opposite as to claimed navigational sophistication unsuspected till now (ie. the crew got lost because they couldn’t navigate their way out of a paper bag) it also shows that the eternal quest for more, ever more, fossil fuels is a good thing because you never know when these greedy bastards might stumble on a piece of History—Bravo! Keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/14 "2024-06-21T22:30:01Z")
At one time I could rattle off a number of branches of the jar family of vessels. I just don’t remember “jugs” in the ancient family tree. But I’m old, forgetful, and never particularly knowledgable. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-ship-wreck-found/1003153/15 "2024-06-21T22:42:33Z")
Little brown amphora, how I adore ya.