Swiss researchers uncover second ship in Antikythera shipwreck investigation
The Antikythera wreck from the 1st century BC is the richest ancient shipwreck ever discovered in Greece. It was discovered back in 1900.
Esag
Swiss researchers have uncovered another important part of the Antikythera shipwreck. This is a major breakthrough in the 5-year underwater archaeological investigation, the Swiss Archaeological School in Greece (Esag) announced on Tuesday.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
From May 17 to June 20, 2024, Esag researchers excavated part of the hull of the famous ship from antiquity during diving expeditions. Its original components together with the outer protective coating are said to be in excellent condition.
Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here.
During this year’s investigations, the researchers were also able to confirm the existence of a second wooden ship in the study area. “Initial analyses show that the ships date from around the same time,” said Lorenz Baumer, head of the excavation project at the University of Geneva, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency.
They were around 200 metres apart. Further investigations will now show whether there is a connection between the sinking of the two ships.
The Antikythera wreck from the 1st century BC is the richest ancient shipwreck ever discovered in Greece. It was discovered back in 1900.
“Until now, the wreck has never been investigated as a shipwreck, but the treasures have simply been extracted,” explained Baumer. In the project, which has been running since 2021, Esag wants to find out more about the ship itself. “We are proceeding in the same way as with excavations on land,” said Baumer. Among other things, remote-controlled underwater drones are being used.
As the investigations from this year also show, the ship was probably built “Shell First”. The builders first constructed the hull with the planks and only then assembled the frames inside the ship. Nowadays, ships are built in the reverse order.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
This content was published on
Scientists have shown that bonobos combine their calls into complex sound sequences that resemble combinations of human words.
This content was published on
US parliamentarians have threatened the UN Human Rights Council with sanctions similar to those against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This content was published on
Thanks to abundant snowfall, lift operators benefited from increased visitor numbers, with the number of guests jumping by 12% year-on-year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.