2,500 Year Old Greek Ship raised near Sicily

[DecimusCaesar]

This story is from the National Geographic -

 

An ancient Greek ship recently raised off the coast of southern Sicily, Italy, is the biggest and best maintained vessel of its kind ever found, archaeologists say.

 

At a length of nearly 70 feet (21 meters) and a width of 21 feet (6.5 meters), the 2,500-year-old craft is the largest recovered ship built in a manner first depicted in Homer's Iliad, which is believed to date back several centuries earlier.

 

Carlo Beltrame, professor of marine archaeology at the Universit

[Melvadius]

A nice spot DecimusCaesar, unfortunately trying to find out more I discovered that there appears to be some confusion with this article. There is a report from their 2004 annual report on the Mary Rose's website (23/11/04) that they were already treating some 700 timbers raised from the Gela wreck in summer 2004. This was also reported in a '24 hour museum' article dated 18/11/2004.

 

c/f:

 

http://www.maryrose.org/news/news_archive_2004.htm

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh/ART24950.html.

 

I suppose that it is possible that another wreck has been recovered similarly located and aged which is also being sent to the conservation facilities run by the Mary Rose Trust. Alternatively it may simply be that another section of the hull has now been raised. Unfortunately the National Geographic article quotes different dimensions for the hull from the 2004 articles but makes no mention of the earlier collaboration between Gela and the Mary Rose Trust. In ships of that age '700 timbers' could represent all or only the majority of a ship's remains.

 

Personally I suspect that it may actually be more timbers from the same ship but unless anyone knows differently it may well take another search of the Mary Rose newsletter later in the year to make things clearer

 

BTW if anyone is in the area of Portsmouth, the Mary Rose is always worth a visit, and you may incidently be able to see the Gela timbers if they have been laid out in the main hall in front of her as part of their preservation process.

 

http://www.maryrose.org/visit/index.html

Edited August 14, 2008 by Melvadius