Remains of the oldest shipwreck ever discovered in deep water, and perhaps the oldest complete wreck in any water, have been located in the Mediterranean Sea about 56 miles off the coast of northern Israel.
The Israel Antiquities Authority, which announced the find on Thursday, said that preliminary examination of two clay jars known as Canaanite amphorae indicated that the merchant vessel, an estimated 39 to 46 feet long, sank sometime between 1400 B.C.
and 1300 B.C., an epoch when the Egyptian empire stretched from what is now northern Syria to Sudan, and the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun briefly sat on the throne.
Whether the galley was the victim of a sudden storm, a wayward wind or attempted piracy is unclear.
No spectacular new finds have surfaced since then.
Persons:
Tutankhamun, “
Organizations:
Israel Antiquities Authority, M University
Locations:
Israel, Syria, Sudan, Texas