The Elusive Phoenician Merchants
A team of divers has ventured 110 meters deep in the Mediterranean Sea to explore a 2,700-year-old shipwreck.
The Phoenician ship is about 50ft long and lies a mile off the coast of Gozo.
It dates back to the first part of the 7th century BC, making it the oldest wreck ever found in the central Mediterranean.
Researchers have now uncovered new artifacts in the wreck which have helped shed light on possible trade routes for the mysterious Phoenician merchants.
Myths, Misunderstandings and Outright lies about owning Gold. Are you at risk?
The ancient Phoenicia civilization consisted of independent states along the coast of what is now Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel.
Phoenician city-states started to form around 3200 BCE and by 2750 BCE they had created a stable society.
The people were known as maritime traders and manufacturers, as they built ships, made glass, produced dyes and other luxury and common goods.
Their trading routes extended as far up into Britain and to Mesopotamian ports and also east to mainland Greece and Crete – but exactly where they traveled has long been a mystery.
In the latest study, divers discovered several artifacts on board, including an amphora pot from Malta, which suggests the Maltese islands were part of the trade route in the Mediterranean.
While the shipwreck off the coast of Gozo was first discovered nine years ago, limited equipment meant that archaeologists were unable to recover any objects.
In 2014, researchers from the University of Malta and the University of Aix-Marseille in France were granted funding to return to the site.
Using a high-resolution camera, they were able to record four artifacts – two amphorae (pots), an urn and a grinding stone.
The post The Elusive Phoenician Merchants appeared first on LewRockwell.
Leave a Reply