2000 year old shipwreck found

Norwegian and Greek marine archaeologists found a 2000 year old shipwreck. Also at the time Jesus lived. Its cargo contains many thousand amphora jars with wine and olivine (used as "containers" at this time) from the roman epoch.

According to the Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten, the shipwreck was localised after search with a mini submarine and sonar equipment. It is a very exiting project going on there now. Think about the Greek people's rich culture heritage and the old classical Greek civilisation influence on Europe's culture development.

As the history is told from the old time; Greece was from year 800 BC undergoing a cultural and military revival. Big cities were built. Athens and Sparta become most central in the development. Greece extended later its area with southern Italy as an important region. An era of great prosperity followed, known as the classical (or golden) age. During this time, Parthenon was commissioned by Pericles. Sophocles wrote Oedipus the King.

Socrates taught young Athenians the strong discipline of logic, and a tradition of democracy (literally, 'control by the people') begun. The classical age ended with the Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 AD) in which the Spartans soldiers combat the Athenians.

The archaeological marine project is planned for a three years span, and it is based on a corporation between the Greek Department of Underwater Antiquities and the Norwegian University for Nature and Science (NTNU). NTNU has developed advanced methods for finding shipwrecks. They use remote controlled submarines with cameras for search, which can go as deep as many hundred metres.

Reports from the mentioned project indicate that almost everywhere in this area below the surface there are plenty of culture treasures. So far this project has achieved unique results. Many shipwrecks are localised, both in the Aegean ocean along the islands in the northern Sporades, and also between the islands Kafellonia and the legendary Ithaca where the shipwreck was found.

The last mentioned island is well known for being Odysseus` island, a hero who got the idea to use the Trojan horse with hidden warriors, who fought down Troj. Land and provinces in the Greek world was a province in the Empire of Rome at the time when this trade ship sunk.

Tourists have now a good time on the most used seaways from the old time. The area is crowded with Yacht boats named after antic gods and heroes. In addition to the Lonian Islands, it also includes the Aegean ocean, The Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.

We hope that the fruitful corporation between the to countries, Greece and Norway, will continue, and that they succeed to find more old treasures under water. We will be back later with more information about the underwater explorations here.

Stein Morten Lund, 16 July 2000