Wreck found in the Black Sea resembles Christopher Columbus' ship

Yesterday the Bulgarian media reported the discovery of a shipwreck in the waters of the Black Sea which resembles the vessel that belonged to the famous sailor and explorer Christopher Columbus. According to publicised information, the vessel dates back to the 13th-14th century and is perfectly preserved. The discovery was made at a depth of ~100 metres in waters south of Cape Galata.

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The find was made as part of a large-scale archaeological expedition. The wreck of a vessel resembling that of Christopher Columbus was discovered and studied by a group of scientists gathered on board the research vessel M/V “Stril Explorer”. The results of the work carried out as part of this international project were announced on Sunday 25 September.

All activities were conducted as part of The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project, by an international team of researchers led by Professor John Adams of the Center for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton. A team of Bulgarian archaeologists from the Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol also took part in the project.

The aim of the project is to create a large-area map of submerged objects that represent the historical and cultural heritage of Bulgaria, and to describe their historical and anthropological impact on the region.

According to published information, in the course of their work, the scientists made use of the latest technological advances, aimed strictly at underwater exploration. As a result, they were able to find and produce photographic documentation of the discovered objects, which no other system of this type would allow.

Unfortunately, there is no information on exactly what equipment was used during the expedition. It is known that it consisted of cameras taking pictures in very high resolution, which, with the use of appropriate lighting, made it possible to obtain very detailed frames of the investigated objects. The data was then processed using photogrammetry to produce perfect 3D images. A large number of samples and geophysical data were also collected, the examination of which has already begun on board the “Stril Explorer”.

From the summary published on Sunday, we can learn that the expedition managed to discover 45 wrecks from various historical periods. Apart from the above-mentioned wreck, which resembles the one belonging to Christopher Columbus, the most interesting is the wreck of a vessel from the 9th to 10th century, which has been attributed to the Byzantine Empire.

Despite many centuries spent on the bottom, the vessels are in very good condition. In many cases, both the construction of the wrecks themselves and the elaborate ornaments and decorations have practically not suffered and are a true time capsule. Even the ship’s ropes have survived, with knots still visible today.

When asked by journalists about the mythical wreck of the “Black Prince”, which was believed to be carrying a huge treasure, Prof John Adams replied: “We are not interested in treasures consisting of gold and valuables. What we are looking for is information about how people lived in ancient times. In Archaeology we have a saying – treasure means trouble”.

He went on to add: “We are very big supporters of the UNESCO Convention on underwater Cultural Heritage – a document of which Bulgaria is one of the first signatories.It was therefore very important for us to create a project that highlighted the importance of this convention and the importance of quality and responsibility in the work we do underwater. Fortunately, we had tremendous support from a well-prepared team of Bulgarian marine archaeologists, whose skills are at a very high level. Together, we were able to put together a great team that included people from the UK, Scandinavia and America, in addition to local scientists. At this point I can say that the results of our work are much better than we expected at the beginning”.

The Black Sea, due to its specificity, is considered to be one of those reservoirs that best preserve objects found in its depths. Thus, in addition to well-preserved wrecks, or ceramics, ropes and other objects were found, which in most waters in the world would not have the slightest chance to survive to our times.

The third phase of The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project will be conducted in autumn 2017.

*In the near future we will try to write more about the project itself, as well as about the discoveries and findings of the just completed phase II. If there are any inaccuracies above, please forgive me, I rarely translate from Bulgarian and the number of sources is still very limited.

Source: faragency.bg