Still, scientists are puzzled why a ruin, then located on a 40-foot rise, and at the mouth of a river, would be anything but an ancient, well-situated home. They don't understand how the debris floated in and settled around the site, especially considering there's no other similar pile of underwater matter for miles around. It could be that the debris floated up as the waters rose, and that it wasn't a continuous rise, or at least not entirely continuous. It's also possible that they've rejected the RC dates because they don't conform to expectation, i.e., that the flood event took place more recently than R&P originally determined. For that matter, it's possible that the long submergence of the wood has had an impact on the carbon ratios.
Ballard's mentor, Willard Bascom, lived not quite long enough to learn of this discovery.Ancient Wooden Ship Emerges Intact From Geographic's Black Sea ExpeditionThe discovery in September of the well-preserved ship confirms scientists' belief that the oxygen-deprived waters of the Black Sea below 656 feet (200 meters) provide an ideal environment for preserving ancient wooden vessels, making that sea a treasure-house for archaeologists. Shipwrecks in most other bodies of water usually are robbed of their wooden parts quickly by wood-boring organisms.
by Mary Jeanne Jacobsen and Barbara Moffet
Ballard's website
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