[Archport] Naufrágio grego sobe à superfície depois de 2500 anos submerso

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

500 BC Greek ship to shed light on country's ancient history

July 29th, 2008 by Mohit Joshi

Athens World News Athens, July 29 : A 21-meters long ancient Greek
ship, which archaeologists believe sank in a storm some 800 metres off
the Gela coast in Greece while transporting goods from the Greek
colony in Gela back to Greece in around 500 BC, has been pulled out of
the seabed, where it lay for nearly 2500 years.

On Monday coastguards and experts from the Caltanissetta Culture
Department salvaged the vessel using a boat equipped with a crane able
to lift loads of up to 200 tonnes. Around 20 other support craft
joined the operation, sounding their fog horns when the wreck finally
emerged from the water.

The 6.5 metres-wide ancient Greek vessel is said to be the biggest of
its kind ever discovered. Earlier, four Greek vessels found off the
coasts of Israel, Cyprus and France were at most 15 metres long.

Interestingly, it took two decades before the ship was finally pulled
out of the waters, though the bow of the ship, along with an
astounding array of amphorae, drinking cups, oil lamps and woven
baskets, were brought to the surface in 2003.

Two scuba divers had first located it by chance in 1988.

It is said to be of particular value for scholars who will be able to
delve into Greek naval construction techniques thanks to the amazing
find of still-intact hemp ropes used to ''sew'' together the pine
planks in its hull - a technique described in Homer''s Iliad. "Gela''s
ancient ship is the patrimony not only of Sicily, but of all
humanity," the ansa. nit quoted Sicily's regional councillor for
culture Antonello Antinoro as saying. Antinoro was present at the
coast while the vessel was brought out yesterday.

Sicilian archaeologists have long hoped that the find will convince
the world that Gela played a key role in ancient times as a major
trading centre in the Mediterranean. Local officials hope the vessel
will also turn the city into an attraction for culture lovers. "This
moment signals the rebirth of Gela. The city''s real history has
emerged after
2500 years, but the story doesn''t end here," said culture department
head Rosalba Panvini.

To preserve them, the pieces of the ship will be kept immersed in
tanks full of the protective chemical polyethylene glycol before being
transported to Portsmouth in the UK, where experts at the Mary Rose
Archaeological Services will conserve and reconstruct the vessel. The
culture department says it eventually plans to build a sea museum in
Gela with the ship as the key exhibit. (ANI)