http://seriouslyforreal.com/seriousl...ars-under-sea/
It is a city shrouded in myth, swallowed by the Mediterranean Sea and buried in sand and mud for more than 1,200 years. But now archeologists are unearthing the mysteries of Heracleion, uncovering amazingly well-preserved artifacts that tell the story of a vibrant classical-era port.
Known as Heracleion to the ancient Greeks and Thonis to the ancient Eygptians, the city was rediscovered in 2000 by French underwater archaeologist Dr. Franck Goddio and a team from the European Ins ute for Underwater Acheology (IEASM) after a four-year geophysical survey. The ruins of the lost city were found 30 feet under the surface of the Mediterranean Sea in Aboukir Bay, near Alexandria.
A new do entary highlights the major discoveries that have been unearthed at Thonis-Heracleion during a 13-year excavation. Exciting archeological finds help describe an ancient city that was not only a vital international trade hub but possibly an important religious center. The television crew used archeological survey data to construct a computer model of the city .
According to the Telegraph, leading research now suggests that Thonis-Heracleion served as a mandatory port of entry for trade between the Mediterranean and the Nile.
So far, 64 ancient shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors have been unearthed from the mud of the bay, the news outlet notes. Other findings include gold coins, weights from Athens (which have never before been found at an Egyptian site) and giant tablets inscribed in ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian. Researchers think that these artifacts point to the city’s prominence as a bustling trade hub.
Researchers have also uncovered a variety of religious artifacts in the sunken city, including 16-foot stone sculptures thought to have adorned the city’s central temple and limestone sarco i that are believed to have contained mummified animals.
Experts have marveled at the variety of artifacts found and have been equally impressed by how well preserved they are.
“The archaeological evidence is simply overwhelming,” Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, a University of Oxford archeologist taking part in the excavation, said in a press release obtained by The Huffington Post. “By lying untouched and protected by sand on the sea floor for centuries they are brilliantly preserved.”
A panel of experts presented their findings at an Oxford University conference on the Thonis-Heracleion excavation earlier this year.
But despite all the excitement over the excavation, one mystery about Thonis-Heracleion remains largely unsolved: Why exactly did it sink? Goddio’s team suggests the weight of large buildings on the region’s water-logged clay and sand soil may have caused the city to sink in the wake of an earthquake.
nearby in alexandria theyre attempting to construct a museum over underwater sites including cleopatra's palace.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture...useum-project/
egypt is really pushing an incentive on underwater cultural resource management. we'll be able to dive among statues, ruins and underwater exhibits in the future. egypt is the place to go.
but knowing oxford, they'll probably end up auctioning off all of that and get filthy rich and it'll all end up as some fat cat's mantle piece.
Last edited by The Reckoning; 06-04-2013 at 05:19 PM.
Pretty interesting stuff. Will try to watch later tonight
What types of activities was the ancient world doing to cause such a climate change? that's quite a sea level rise!
earthquakes and volcanic activity were common in the ancient world
Awesome. Love ancient civilizations, namely the Egyptians. Looks like a huge chunk of that part of Africa was lost into the sea, considering Alexandria's outskirts, and now this. Not to mention the fabled Lighthouse, and one of the Ancient Wonders of The World toppled somewhere there in the sea as well.
Where the is Zahi Hawass? He's usually all over like this..
Wow those pics in the link are amazing.
Oh did anyone thought of Lost reading teh le+seeing those pics? lol
The colossus?
how do they figure out how long it was "lost" in the sea?
No, sorry. I typo'd an "and" in there, was referring to the lighthouse.
Usually based off ancient records that reference the site.
It's funny, if I were to have access to a time machine with ONE trip. I would probably go to a time before the great fire in alexandria with a camera or scanner of some sort and just do ent all of the scrolls in the great library.
I think I would probably visit ancient Egypt in its glory days as well. Maybe a video proving how the Great Pyramid was made?
The Aliens wouldn't allow you to record tbh
I agree with this assessment.
Wow super interesting, thanks for sharing.
Ancient Rome was more intriguing tbh.
I would have liked to be there when Caesar gets knifed gangnam style.
Ancient Rome is one of my interests as well. I would love to take a vacation to Rome, this is more feasible considering the state of the Egypt's tourist security. I'd love to tour the Colosseum and walk around the ruins in the city. If you look at satellite imagery of the area, the entire city is built around ruins and monuments. Would love to go.
ancient greece tops my interest list and would be my 1st destination to go if i could invent a time-machine someday (though i know it's theoretically impossible to make a machine that enables one to travel to the past). im kinda intrigued by the ideologies of those ancient greek philosophers (Plato in particular) and im even writing a story derived from a greek myth and based upon Platonic love. i already got done some 3,000 words or about 1/4 of the story, i'll release it on this website as soon as the finals end (in the club forum most likely) so you won't feel too bored during the offseason.
Ancient Egypt would be my trip too.
A very close 2nd is St. Petersburg 1917
How did ancient man do some of that stuff that we can't duplicate today?
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