A view of the Punic shipwreck cargo remains at the Binisafuller shipwreck site. Courtesy Ecomuseum de Cavalleria, Sanisera Field School
Posted on 05/05/2014 2:03:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The discovery was first made by students in 2013 while investigating underwater shipwreck remains near the ancient port of Sanitja on the island of Menorca... ancient Punic amphorae, more than 150 of them, lying in situ, still at rest where a seagoing vessel identified with the site known as the Binisafuller wreck gave up its cargo...
Archaeologists date the amphorae to between 325-275 BC. It makes the shipwreck the oldest documented one in Menorca.
It is a significant discovery because the remains of the port of Sanitja have been most often associated with the adjacent Roman period city of Sanisera. In recent decades, surveys and excavations revealed structures and artifacts at the Sanisera location that revealed a long occupation of the city from the Roman Late Republican period until Late Antiquity. Surveys and excavations have been conducted at the site annually through an extensive field school under the auspices of the Ecomuseum de Cavalleria school...
"This discovery increases the knowledge of navigation and the Punic trade in the Balearic Islands between the fourth and third centuries BC, something still quite unknown in our days," says Contreras. But, as Contreras emphasizes, Sanitja is about much more than Punic amphorae and shipwrecks.
"The existence of large amounts of artifacts from different periods speaks to the continuing activity that has taken place on the North coast of Menorca. The combination of land and underwater archaeological investigations in Sanitja are already providing excellent results which will be explored in depth during the next few years."
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
A view of the Punic shipwreck cargo remains at the Binisafuller shipwreck site. Courtesy Ecomuseum de Cavalleria, Sanisera Field School
Cool stuff. Thank you for posting.
Before they knew the way to San Jose.
la la la la la la la la la
:’) I’d like it if the Med seafloor were comprehensively mapped and the ancient (and modern) wrecks charted.
Nice dream anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
