[Archport] The 2,000-year-old 'supertanker'

["Alexandre Monteiro" <no.arame@gmail.com>]

Published Date: 07 June 2008
By MICHAEL THEODOULOU In Nicosia

TWO years ago, a Cypriot diver was stunned by a chance find: hundreds
of ancient ceramic wine jars, rising from a featureless expanse of
flat, desert-like seabed off Cyprus's southern coast.
Together they formed the shape of a ghostly ship, still submerged
beneath the sands. It now appears that what the diver discovered was a
supertanker of its time, and the biggest and probably oldest wreck
ever found in the island's waters.

The merchant vessel may also prove to be one of the best preserved
wrecks of the Classical period, from the 5th to 4th centuries BC,
archaeologists said yesterday.

"There are very few shipwrecks of Classical times left, so it will be
very important for the study of ancient shipbuilding techniques and
navigation," said Dr Stella Demesticha, a Greek marine archaeologist
and visiting lecturer at the University of Cyprus. "It will add a lot
to our knowledge."

The ship was carrying high-quality red wine from a Greek island when
it sank a mile-and-a-half off the southern coast of Cyprus in about
350BC, around the time Alexander the Great was born. Within days,
several of the large wine jars, or amphorae, were brought to the
surface.

Why the vessel sank is a mystery – the result of a collision,
storm-tossed seas or perhaps structural failure. There is speculation,
however, that similar ships were deliberately scuppered to scam the
insurers of the day.

The wine was probably destined for one of the island's renowned ports,
Kition or Salamina. Alternately, the ship may have been using Cyprus
as a handy stopover on the way to Egypt or the Syrian-Palestinian
coast. The island was a well-placed trading hub on the commercial sea
routes of antiquity.

The vessel has been named the Mazotos shipwreck after the nearest
village, but the wreck's precise location is being kept secret to
protect it from treasure hunters. It lies at a depth of 45 metres,
meaning divers can only work on the site in 20-minute stretches. Some
500 amphorae were found on the seabed's surface and at least 300 more
are believed to lie buried in the sand.

That suggests its cargo was twice the size of Cyprus's most celebrated
wreck, the Kyrenia, a 50ft merchant vessel found off the northern
coast more than 40 years ago. The Mazotos wreck, then, is probably
twice as big as the Kyrenia, which was carrying 385 amphorae.

"It is the largest shipwreck we have found in Cyprus, said Dr Pavlos
Flourentzos, the director of Cyprus's Department of Antiquities. "It's
approximately 50 years older than the Kyrenia."

Experts say the skills of captains who sailed in the 4th century BC
without compasses is often underestimated. The ancients invented
geometry, were skilled astronomers and understood the importance of
getting goods to market quickly, efficiently and in bulk to turn a
good profit.

Nautical experts suggest ancient weather patterns, unafflicted by
climate change and global warming, were more predictable and regular
than today.

"The ancients possessed an ocean of maritime information," said
Glafkos Kariolou, an expert in nautical tourism with the Cyprus
Tourism Organisation.

The son of a pioneering Cypriot diver who discovered the Kyrenia, he
has skippered a replica of the vessel on several long voyages along
shipping routes of antiquity.

"We believe that the ancient mariners knew a lot more about the
statistics of weather than we do now," Mr Karioulou said. "They knew
meteorology like we know the programme of buses in London. They knew
exactly when certain winds would blow, they could predict
discrepancies in the weather and knew exactly when to sail."

A team has mapped the site of the Mazotos wreck and the finds lying on
the sand and seven amphorae have been found. The wreck itself has yet
to be excavated.

But as the amphorae were not dispersed and the ship sank in fine sand
on Cyprus's leeward side, archaeologists are hopeful there are wooden
remains to be uncovered.

"We have serious reason to believe that the hull of the ship is
well-preserved in the sand," Dr Demesticha, who is leading the
research, told The Scotsman.

The design of the amphorae from the Mazotos wreck indicates they were
from the Greek island of Chios. Wine was a leading product of the
north Aegean island in antiquity, exported in distinctive,
narrow-bottomed jars with long stems.

Dr Demesticha said the amphorae would have lost their wine almost
immediately with the stoppers on their spouts dissolving in the salty
water. "Now they contain just seawater and sand," she said.



Wreck's importance to early nautical history

THE Mazotos wreck has been dated to about 350BC, and is one of the few
finds dating back to the Classical period, from 475-325BC. It is of
potentially enormous importance in tracing early economic and nautical
history, shedding light on ancient trade routes and the types and
sizes of ships.

Cyprus was an important source of raw materials, particularly timber,
and for shipping, at a time of great naval battles such as the Battle
of Salamis, in 480BC, when the Greeks defeated a much larger Persian
fleet in a battle involving hundreds of ships.

In the aftermath of a revolt against the island's Persian rulers, the
city states of Cyprus were divided between pro-Greek and pro-Persian
cities.

While archeologists cannot be precise about the dates, they have
placed the wreck very close to the birth of Alexander the Great in
356BC.

 06 June 2008 11:04 PM, The Scotsman

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/The-2000yearold-39supertanker39.4162421.jp