A team of underwater archaeologists made what many are calling the top archaeological find of 2015, when they discovered 22 shipwrecks just off the coast of the Fourni archipelago.
Some of the shipwrecks — which were discovered in a 17-square-mile area just off the coast of the Greek islands — date back to the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.). Archaic Greece was the period in Greek history lasting from the eighth century BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, part of the Greco-Persian wars, between the Greek Dark Ages and Classical Greece. In the eighth century, Greek navies began to use ships with two banks of oars, and the three banked trireme became popular in the seventh century.
More than half are from the Late Roman Period (circa 300-600 A.D.). Roman Greece is the period of Greek history following the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by the Emperor Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD.
What’s astounding about this discovery isn’t just the age of the ships, but the variety of the goods they carried. Some of the ships carried cargo that has never been found before. One of the pieces of cargo that has never been found before is amphoras. Amphoras are jars that date back to the Archaic period. They have different designs and purposes based on their age.
Archaeologists are planning to explore more of the coastline in the future, as they’ve only examined about 5 percent of it so far. Chances are there will be more exciting discoveries to come!
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